Green corridor gives new lease of life to soldier

NEW DELHI: Efforts by officers and personnel of the Traffic Unit of Delhi Police helped save the life of a serving 35-year-old soldier in the 102 Engineering Regiment of the Army, as a special green corridor was created in the Capital to bring a heart for transplant for the soldier.

The patient was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy and was waiting for a donor at RR Hospital since July 12.

On Sunday, the patient was declared brain dead at PGI Hospital in Chandigarh. Immediately, the heart of the donor was brought to Delhi through a special Dornier Jet Air Craft.

In a well planned and coordinated move by the traffic inspector of Delhi Cantonment and Palam Airport, a green corridor was provided on a route of six kilometres to take the organ from the technical area Air Force Station, Palam to RR Hospital in Delhi Cantonment. The distance was covered in just six minutes, which would have taken more than 30 minutes in a regular course.

A heart needs to be successfully replanted into the recipient within four hours of its retrieval from the donor. In the present case, the heart was taken from at PGI Chandigarh, at 10 am and brought to RR Hospital at 11.15 am.