Kolkata: For the first time in Kolkata's history, a heart was retrieved from a brain-dead patient from the city and it has been successfully transplanted in a patient's body at a private hospital here.
So far, the city has witnessed as many as nine cases of organ donation this year, where organs were brought into the city after they had been retrieved from brain-dead patients in other cities.
Apart from the heart, liver, two kidneys and corneas were also harvested from 22-year-old Amit Mukherjee, a resident of Parnashree who was declared brain dead at a private hospital on EM Bypass on Thursday, after he sustained severe head injuries during a road accident near Ultadanga on October 15.
One kidney was taken to SSKM Hospital within 14 minutes through a green corridor facilitated by the city police on the wee hours of Friday and later transplanted in 16-year-old Saikat Sandhuka.
According to SSKM Hospital authorities, the kidney transplant was successfully done by the doctors and the patient has been kept under observation. Sandhuka, a resident of Jadavpur, had been suffering from kidney-related ailments for a long time, hospital sources said.
The other kidney, the liver and the heart were transplanted in three other patients at the private hospital on early Friday morning. The heart has been transplanted in Anima
Nashkar (44), a resident of Howrah who has been kept in ventilation.
According to the hospital authorities, the patient would be kept under observation for the next 72 hours. The hospital claimed that the operation was successfully conducted on Nashkar but it would be difficult for them to say how the patient improves after receiving the organ.
The city has seen a spurt in organ donation in recent times due to the state government's drive for awareness about deceased donor organ transplants. The private hospital authorities had urged Mukherjee's family members for organ donation on Thursday and they readily accepted the proposal. The Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) allocated one organ to SSKM, while the other organs were allocated to the private hospital. The corneas were transplanted at a private eye hospital.
Manoj Kumar Hela (46), a resident of Entally, received the liver while the other kidney was transplanted in Sant Lal Yadav (58) from Haldia.
Mukherjee, the donor, was riding pillion with a friend when their bike hit a divider near Ultadanga on the night of October 15, after which he was taken to the private hospital.