The Command Hospital, Chandimandir, carried out its first heart retrieval for transplant, and in the process saved the life of a 14-year-old Sudanese boy admitted in a Delhi hospital.

The organ was harvested from a 42-year-old brain dead woman and airlifted to Delhi via a chartered flight within half an hour. The boy was terminally ill and in the last stage of the battle for life.

The hospital’s organ transplant team also retrieved her liver, pancreas and kidneys, thereby enabling multiple recipients a new lease of life through organ donation.

The process was undertaken through seamless coordination between the Chandimandir hospital, Army Hospital (Research and Referral), New Delhi, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital and the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research under the aegis of the Western Command.

Organ allocation by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation and swift creation of ‘green corridors’ ensured timely retrieval and transport.