Two green corridors ensure swift 3-hour journey for donor heart, saves 59-year-old woman’s life

New Delhi: Two green corridors were created to transport a donor heart from Nagpur to Delhi within a record time of 3 hours and 4 minutes, giving a 59-year-old woman a new lease of life.

The heart travelled over 1,067 kilometers by air and road during the night, according to a statement from Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Okhla Road, where the heart transplant was performed.

Breaking down the timeline and providing more details about the case, Ritwick Raj Bhuyan, an adult cardiac surgeon at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, who led the team said that timing plays a major role in such incidents as the ideal time from removing the heart from the donor to performing the transplant is six hours. Within these six hours, the heart must be transplanted.

He explained that the journey began at 12:53 am from Nagpur's Kingsway Hospital, where it was harvested from a 43-year-old male donor who had passed away due to a brain stroke.

At 1.12 am, the heart was flown to Delhi via air ambulance, departing Nagpur and landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 3.19 am.

Upon arrival, a second green corridor created by the Delhi Traffic Police facilitated the transport of the heart to Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Okhla Road, covering a distance of 20 kilometers in just 27 minutes. The heart reached the hospital at 3.57 am, he said.

The recipient, a 59-year-old woman suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy, had been waiting for a suitable donor for over a decade. Despite receiving a pacemaker years ago, her condition worsened to the point where a transplant became her only hope for survival.

Bhuyan said the transplant was successful and speaking on the patient’s condition mentioned that the woman is recovering well. Her body has accepted the new heart and there is no infection or allergy. She is able to sit now.

“This life-saving intervention was made possible through the collaborative efforts of medical teams, with the heart allocated for transplant by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) and local authorities. Two green corridors -- one in Nagpur and another in Delhi --ensured the heart’s seamless journey. We are deeply grateful to the donor’s family for their generosity, which gave our patient a second chance at life,” he added.