Haryana's First Heart Transplant Performed at Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), Gurgaon

Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) in Gurgaon has become the first hospital to perform a cadaveric heart transplant surgery on a 54-year old patient in Haryana. This surgery is also rare as for the first time a heart transplant surgery was performed “bloodlessly” at FMRI.

A terminally ill 54-year-old male Gurgaon resident became the timely recipient of a 44-year old brain dead patient.  Besides, the doctors also harvested the donor’s three major organs the heart, the liver and a kidney for further availability in the Army Research and Referral (R&R) hospital for transplant.

The donor patient, a resident of Bijwasan in south-west Delhi, was brought into the facility on October 3, post-midnight after being referred from another private hospital.

According to Vinod, the patient’s husband, his wife had been diagnosed with hypertension close to two years ago. “Being a home-maker, my wife who was uneducated, would often miss taking her prescribed medicines. On Friday I was home when she complained of headache and soon after started vomiting. This was around 10: 30 am. She consumed some milk and juice through the day but kept vomiting each time. She also slept through most part of the day and around 7 pm I took her to our local physician. He referred us to a nearby private hospital where a CT scan showed haemorrhage and we were immediately referred to a quaternary care facility,” said Vinod Kumar Jha, a native of Sarsa in Bihar.

The patient at the time of admission was critical and non-responsive. She had arrived with a massive haemorrhage and her prognosis was extremely poor.

The brain dead protocol was initiated on Sunday evening at FMRI. The family agreed upon donation soon after and the patient was declared brain dead at 2:22 am on October 5 (Monday).

“One rarely expects organ donations from families with such humble backgrounds. This is our third case of cadaveric donations at the facility since the beginning of this year. To achieve triple transplants under the same roof in a short span of two years since operations is a milestone in itself,” said Jasdeep Singh, Zonal director, FMRI.

According to Dr Avnish Seth, Director Fortis Organ Retrieval and Transplant (FORT), “There is a huge gap between requirement and the availability of organs in India and it is estimated that we need about 1, 75,000 kidneys, 100,000 livers, 50,000 hearts, and 20,000 lungs in a year. FORT provides a registry to those who wish to pledge organs during their life and a 24-hour referral service for assistance with documentation and procedures relating to the process of organ donation is made available(fort@fortishealthcare.com ; helpline +91-8447743868).”

“We feel proud to be associated with the family of the donor. Vinod has been a technician with us for close to two decades. It is unimaginable that a person like him would set an example by taking such a bold step. It is important that a layman understands the essence of cadaver organ donations so that more lives can be saved,” said a Deepak Batra, head – HR, admin and Legal at Beumer Group where the deceased’s husband is employed.

The deceased is survived by her 46-year-old husband, two daughters and a son.

Meanwhile, all recipient patients are currently under observation in the post-operative area.