India / Police airlifts human heart in chopper from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi in 40 minutes

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The collective effort of a medical team and the Kerala Police enabled the successful airlift of a live heart from the capital to Kochi in 40 minutes for a heart transplant surgery on Saturday. The state police offered its rented helicopter for the life-saving mission besides arranging green corridors.

The medical team led by surgeon Jose Chacko Periyapuram of Lissie Hospital in Kochi reached the KIMS Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram around 10 am and the process began to take out the heart from a 50-year-old woman Lali Gopinath who was declared brain dead on Friday.

The heart transplant surgery is for a 48-year-old woman hailing from Kothamanagalam who has been admitted to Lissie Hospital. She was suffering from cardiac issues after suffering a heart attack occurred last year. Lali was a school teacher at Kazhakootam Government LP school and hailed from Chembazhanthy in the district.

She was admitted to KIMS Hospital on April 4 after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage. Though she was taken to the intensive care unit, she remained in a coma. On Friday, she was declared brain dead and her daughter informed the doctors that she was willing to donate her organs.

The medical team of KIMS Hospital informed Chacko. The patient from Kothamangalam was present in front of him. Following a discussion with the patient's family, they agreed to the transplant.

The state government decided to use the chopper as an air ambulance free of cost to transport the vital organ. Police in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram created 'green corridors' from the hospital to the helipad and vice versa. The heart was taken to the ambulance around 2.40 pm at KIMS Hospital and reached the Thiruvananthapuram airport in five minutes covering six kilometres.

The chopper took off from the airport at 3.10 pm and landed at the helipad of Grand Hyatt hotel at Bolgatty Island in Kochi at 3.50 pm. An ambulance was ready to receive the heart and reached the Lissie Hospital at 3.54 pm. The surgery has begun.

The helicopter was rented by the Kerala Police earlier this year from 'Pawan Hans' for a monthly tariff of Rs 1.44 crore to be used in its anti-Maoist operations and during natural disasters. The government’s decision to provide the chopper for the life-saving mission garnered appreciation from many quarters.