R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, SEP 3
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Ports Nitin Gadkari on Saturday hailed the remarkable achievement in transplanting over 500 hearts and lungs by Dr KR Balakrishnan and his team at MGM Hospitals here.
Addressing the meeting to honour the Dr KR Balakrishnan and his dedicated team for their achievement virtually, the Union Minister said that this an Asian Record and takes India to the world map.
- Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Ports launches the Drone for the last mile quicker transport of harvested organs for transplants
- The lands required for the Chennai-Bengaluru Green Corridor has been acquired and the project will kickstart soon, as it will reduce the travel time between these two cities by 2 two hours.
- Over 1,000 transplantations were assisted through the Chief Ministers’ Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme: Tamil Nadu Medical and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian
The Golden Quadrilateral Express Highway projects initiated by the BJP government headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi paved the way for quicker transportation of organs. The government is also taking several projects to reduce the transportation time between the main cities such Chennai – Bengaluru Green Corridor. He also revealed that the lands required for the Chennai-Bengaluru Green Corridor has been acquired and the project will kickstart soon, as it will reduce the travel time between these two cities by 2 two hours.
He also stressed the importance of organ donation among the students at the school level and appealed the management of MGM to share their expertise on organ transplantation to other private hospitals, as it will help save many lives, he added.
Nitin Gadkari launched the Drone for the last mile quicker transport of harvested organs for transplants.
Tamil Nadu Medical and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian congratulated Dr Balakrishnan and his entire team for their achievement of over 500 heart and lung transplantations. He said that over 1,000 transplantations were assisted through the Chief Ministers’ Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme.
Tamil Nadu was the first state which initiated the regulations for organ donation and was the role model for the entire nation. The minister announced that the state government has recently issued an order to facilitate all the 36 Hospitals attached to Medical Colleges and also the District Headquarters’ Hospitals to harvest the organs and soon will take necessary steps to allow Government hospitals to undertake organ transplantations.
He appealed the MGM Hospital management to collaborate with the state government to achieve more number of organ transplantations.
Dr K R Balakrishnan, Chairman – Cardiac Sciences, Director – Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support, MGM Healthcare said, “We have successfully completed 514 heart and lung transplants, including over 200 transplants over the last two years despite lockdowns and the Covid pandemic. This was possible due to the tremendous support and expertise of the team, the government bodies and transport teams. The infrastructure and support by MGM Healthcare also helped us treat over 350 ECMO patients which is once again the highest in the country. We have also performed over 100 paediatric transplants and over 4,600 interventional cases, free of cost in association with Aishwarya Trust – ‘Caring for Little Hearts’ and completed over 220 procedures under the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s scheme,”.
Dr Suresh Rao, Co-Director, Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support, MGM Healthcare added “Running India’s largest heart and lung transplant program is made possible by the dedicated efforts of Dr KR Balakrishnan and our team’s expertise in the domain as well as in mechanical circulatory support program”.
Dr Ravikumar R, Sr Consultant & Associate Clinical Lead -Cardiology & Heart Failure Program, MGM Healthcare said, “Heart failure is an under recognised problem in India. The quality of life and longevity of end stage heart failure patients not responding to conventional therapy can be improved by advanced procedures like heart transplant and Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)”.
Dr. Prashanth Rajagopalan, Director, MGM Healthcare said “A milestone like this gives us the chance to look back on the efforts of the transplant team. Today, patients from different countries are coming to India for treatment in large numbers. With this remarkable achievement, we are further committed in making India as a Global medical hub by investing in the latest technologies, best clinical talent for better clinical outcomes.”
M K Chandrasekar, Trustee of Aishwarya Trust said that the trust had supported 127 pediatric heart & lung transplants of MGM Hospitals.
- Southeast Asia, Middle East & Africa’s First Biventricular Berlin Heart Implantation on 3-Year-Old-Russian boy
- Asia’s first Bilateral Lung Transplant on a Covid Positive Patient
- India’s first Successful HVAD
- India’s first Successful LVAD
- Asia Pacific’s first successful Paediatric Impellar pump in a child
- Youngest bilateral lung transplant in a 4 year old child
Dr Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee, Mohan Foundation, Dr J Amalorpavanathan, Former Member Secretary, Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN) and MK Rajagopalan, Chairman- MGM Healthcare, Chennai were also present.
