Bangalore : In a heart-warming action, traffic police in Bangalore and Chennai created a ‘green corridor’ on Wednesday to facilitate unhindered transport of a donor’s heart from a hospital in Bangalore to the airport to be transplanted on a patient at Chennai.
The harvested heart from a woman, who died after suffering brain haemorrhage in an accident, was taken from BGS Hospital in Bangalore to Fortis Hospital in Chennai, the doctor involved and a senior police official said.
The distance of 42 km from the hospital to the Bangalore International Airport was covered by the ambulance in just 40 minutes against one-and-half hours it would normally take, DCP Traffic (west) S Girish told PTI.
BGS Hospital Vice President Dr N K Venkataramana said the transportation took place without any hassle.
“I got a call in the morning from Fortis Hospital in Chennai asking for a heart to save a patient there. I sought help from the traffic police to provide us the green corridor for transporting the heart.”
“The traffic police arranged everything for transporting the heart. All the traffic junctions on the route were put on alert. We were in contact with the hospitals’ technical teams while transporting it,” he said.
Green corridors to facilitate transportation of organs for transplant is a common phenomena in foreign countries, but in Bangalore it was first of its kind.
“It gives an opportunity to save a life quickly,” he added.
The heart was taken in a special box out of BGS Hospital.
The teams of doctors at both BGS and Fortis hospitals were in touch with each other and sharing information about the condition of the heart and the recipient, Venkataramana said.
Doctors of Fortis said the transplant was carried out successfully.
