Heart transplantation is being carried out in Kerala on Saturday with the heart harvested from a brain dead woman aged around 45 in Thiruvananthapuram being airlifted to Kochi and being transplanted on a woman hailing from Ernakulam district.
The heart transplantation assumed significance as a helicopter recently hired for Kerala Police was operated for transporting the organ from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi, around 225 kilometres, in around 45 minutes. The decision to hire the helicopter on a rent of Rs. 1.7 crore had recently triggered allegations of unnecessary spending at the time of financial crunches.
A team of doctors led by cardiac surgeon Jose Chacko Periappuram was conducting the transplantation. The heart was harvested from a Thiruvananthapuram native at KIMS hospital. The transplantation was progressing on an Ernakulam native at Lissie hospital in Kochi and the first stage is said to be successful.