R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, FEB 23
In the act of giving life to total strangers, irrespective of caste, community or gender, Tamil Nadu has set a precedent by creating many a green corridors for heart transplants. Thanks to this new expressive humanism, a Trichy teenager’s cadaver donation has restored the heart beats of a Kashmiri woman.
Chennai-based Multi-specialty hospital – MGM Healthcare, gave a fresh lease of life to a young woman hailing from Srinagar in Kashmir who was suffering from terminal heart failure.
A team of doctors who had performed the procedure told reporters that Shahzadi Fathima had worsening heart failure symptoms due to Restrictive Cardio Myopathy (RCM), a condition where the chambers of the heart become stiff/thick over time.
She became terminally Ill and her only hope of survival was an early life saving heart transplantation. With her condition worsening, on December 31, 2021, she was admitted with sign of severe heart failure. Soon she was treated with isotropes and other medications.
- Aishwarya Trust came forward to fund the heart transplant
- With the help of Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN), on January 26, 2022, a suitable brain-dead donor was identified in a private hospital in Trichy
With the help of Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN), on January 26, 2022, a suitable brain-dead donor was identified in a private hospital in Trichy. The heart was harvested and rushed to Chennai through a green corridor and a high-risk heart transplantation was carried out on Shahzadi.
She made an uneventful recovery after the procedure and is ready to begin a new lease of life in Kashmir, the doctors said.
Fathima, an unmarried woman from Kashmir lives with her brother, who is a daily wage earner, who was not able to meet her medical expenses and the cost of the transplant. Sensing the plight of the woman, Chennai-based NGO Aishwarya Trust (https://www.aishwaryatrust.org) came forward to sponsor the entire cost of the transplantation.
Commenting on the successful transplantation, Founder-trustee of Aishwarya Trust, Chitra Viswanathan, said it was a meaningful and befitting way for the trust to celebrate Republic Day by funding the poor woman’s heart transplant on 26th January 2022. For its part, MGM Healthcare carried out the transplant at a subsidised cost
“The trust was formed in the year 2008 in memory of my daughter who died of congenial heart disease and it was inspired by my father and friend. Since then we have so far supported over 5000 heart surgeries for poor children and over 115 heart transplantations from within the nation as well as foreign countries,” Chitra Viswanathan said.
As part of its mission to improve the infant mortality rate, the trust undertakes screening test for new born babies to find congenial heart disease in about 5 district hospitals in the state in addition to the neighbouring union territory Pondicherry, she added.
Addressing the reporters, Dr K R Balakrishnan, Director – Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support of MGM Healthcare who led the surgery lauded the efforts of the victim’s family in generously agreeing for organ donation in the face of great personal tragedy and TRANSTAN which oversees the organ donation activity in the state.
“Such life-saving transplants need coordination and support from several people and is a true team effort,” said Dr Suresh Rao, Co-Director. Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support.
Dr Ravikumar R, Sr Consultant & 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 who are not responding to conventional therapy can be improved by advanced procedures like heart transplant and Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD).”
