Motorists did themselves proud on Wednesday and made way on busy roads for an 11-minute-long dash of an ambulance carrying a donor’s liver over a nine-kilometre ‘green corridor’ from the airport to a south Delhi hospital.
The mission from Indira Gandhi International Airport to the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in Vasant Kunj was successful.
The liver of a fatal road accident victim in Lucknow was transported to the capital to give a fresh lease of life to a 52-year-old man.
“The organs of a 28-year-old man were airlifted from Lucknow and then the liver was transported to the hospital in Vasant Kunj through the green corridor,” said ILBS Director Dr S K Sarin.
After the deceased man’s family agreed to donate his organs, a team from ILBS left for Lucknow to receive the liver. The hospital had received information on the availability of the organ late on Tuesday. With the donor being A-positive, ILBS had called potential recipients of the same blood group.
“The most sick patient with a damaged liver functioning was chosen for the transplant,” Sarin added. The liver was retrieved at King George’s Medical University in Lucknow.
“The Ministry of Civil Aviation helped us airlift the liver to the capital and we had also approached Delhi Traffic Police to provide a green corridor,” Sarin added.
Normal life
Without the transplantation, the lifespan of the patient would have ranged between six months and a year. In all probabilities, the patient can now lead a normal life.
This is the seventh cadaver donation that ILBS has received this year. The ambulance was driven from Terminal 3 of IGI Airport through Aerocity, Mahipalpur, Abdul Gaffar Khan Marg, Masoodpur and Kishangarh village to Vasant Kunj.
“Traffic police ensured that there were no obstructions or traffic jams. We are happy to contribute in the noble cause of saving a life,” said Muktesh Chander, Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic).
The coordination by traffic police, hospital authorities and cooperative faceless motorists, often flogged for insensitivity and mindless road rage, proved that Delhiites, after all, are large-hearted and benevolent.
In February, Delhi Traffic Police had also helped an ambulance to transport a brain dead patient at Orchid Hospital in west Delhi’s Janakpuri to AIIMS Trauma Centre to facilitate organ donation. The 25-km journey was completed in 21 minutes.
Delhi Traffic Police had also joined forces with Gurgaon Police to create a 32-km green corridor from Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon Sector-44 to Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in south-east Delhi’s Okhla for a heart transplant.
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