Hyderabad: A patient undergoing treatment in Hyderabad received a lung transplant after the organ was arranged to be sent in a special flight from Kolkata. The lung, which was transplanted into the patient’s body on Monday, arrived to the city in a one-hour-fifty-minute flight. The organ belonged to a brain dead donor, and was brought thanks to efforts by the Jeevandan Foundation.
The recipient of the organ is an individual who was suffering from end stage lung disease and was also oxygen dependent. He is a 32-year-old who was undergoing treatment at the Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) Hospitals in Hyderabad. Green corridors were formed in both cities with the assistance of the police departments by the West Bengal and Telangana governments to facilitate the transportation.
This is a first for the state of West Bengal as lung donations are new to the state’s maturing organ donor program. This individual was brain dead at the Institute of Neurosciences Kolkata (INK) on Saturday, following which the relatives collectively made a decision to contribute his organs to the noble cause.
The combined efforts of the Jeevandana foundation in- charge Dr. Swarnalatha, Dr. Manimay Bandyopadhyay, director, ROTTO East Institute of Post graduate medical Education and Research, and others, helped the organ reach in time to Hyderabad.
Monday’s lung transplant was the second consecutive double lung transplant at KIMS Heart and Lung Transplant Institute, Hyderabad in the past 10 days. The first patient, who received a pair of donor lungs from Pune on August 16, is recovering well, said doctors from KIMS. He is expected to be discharged from the center shortly in good health.