A donor heart travelled 95 kilometres from Rohtak to Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh, Delhi, in 63 minutes on Thursday after Haryana and Delhi police coordinated an interstate green corridor for the transplant journey.
The heart was removed at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, at 7:20 pm. The medical team carrying it left for Delhi at 7:40 pm, and the ambulance reached Fortis Hospital at 8:43 pm without facing traffic disruption along the route.
The heart had been allocated through the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) network for a suitable patient at Fortis Hospital. The recipient was reported to have a B-positive blood group. The hospital has not disclosed the identities or other personal details of the donor and recipient.
According to the hospital, the process began on Thursday morning when Fortis Hospital was informed at about 8:50 am that a donor heart was available for a B-positive patient. The hospital provided details of a suitable recipient at around 10 am, after which NOTTO completed the allocation process.
Following the allocation, the Fortis medical team left Delhi for Rohtak at about 3 pm and reached PGIMS at approximately 4:30 pm. After the heart was removed and prepared for transport, the ambulance began its return journey under the green corridor arrangement.
A green corridor is created to minimise stoppages for an emergency vehicle carrying an organ that must reach a transplant centre within a limited period. In this case, police authorities in Haryana and Delhi coordinated traffic management across the interstate route so that the ambulance could travel without unnecessary interruptions.
The operation required coordination between the transplant network, the two medical teams, emergency transport staff and law-enforcement agencies. The journey also shows how organ transplantation depends not only on clinical expertise and donor allocation, but on a tightly managed movement system across city and state boundaries.
Naveen Sharma, vice-president and facility director of Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, said coordination between law-enforcement agencies and medical teams was necessary to ensure that the donor heart reached the hospital on time across the 95-kilometre interstate route.
After reaching Fortis Hospital, the heart was taken forward for the transplant procedure. The supplied report does not provide the outcome of the surgery or further medical details about the recipient.
