Brain-dead journalist’s heart gives new life to serving Army soldier

Pune: A 44-year-old brain-dead journalist's heart was successfully transplanted into a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Indian Army at the Army Institute of Cardio Thoracic Sciences (AICTS) recently.
The JCO was on the waitlist at AICTS for the transplant for the last six months.
"The patient's health is stable now. He is under observation at the ICU," a senior army officer told TOI.
A 600-bed hospital, AICTS is one of the oldest superspecialty hospitals of the armed forces and one of the oldest centres for cardio-thoracic surgery in the country.
Aarti Gokhale, chief coordinator of the zonal transplant coordination committee, said, "The journalist was in the DY Patil medical college. His brother consented to the heart transplant after counselling by doctors. We selected the JCO as he was on the waitlist. We verified medical parameters such as height, weight, and blood group of patients and found the JCO to be a good match."
"The doctors at the college and AICTS worked on the transplant procedure together, and they transplanted the heart on Monday through a green corridor created by the Corps of Military Police of the Southern Command and Pune Traffic Police. It was done smoothly as per the protocol," she added.
At AICTS, the recipient was already in the operating theatre, and the native heart was about to be removed from the patient's body. "A team of our doctors comprising three cardio surgeons and three anaesthetists successfully transplanted the heart within four hours of surgery. Now, the patient is in a stable condition under observation in the ICU," an army doctor said.
This was the seventh successful heart transplant at AICTS in the last two years. The hospital has established standard operating procedures for this kind of exercise. It has established a proper mechanism to coordinate with civil agencies, including hospitals in Pune and outside hospitals across the country. If required, the hospital also takes the help of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to bring organs within the mandated time.
In February 2023, the heart of a 40-year-old brain-dead veteran was flown to Pune in a special plane of the IAF from New Delhi and transplanted to the wife of a serving soldier.
Pune: A 44-year-old brain-dead journalist's heart was successfully transplanted into a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Indian Army at the Army Institute of Cardio Thoracic Sciences (AICTS) recently.
The JCO was on the waitlist at AICTS for the transplant for the last six months.
"The patient's health is stable now. He is under observation at the ICU," a senior army officer told TOI.
A 600-bed hospital, AICTS is one of the oldest superspecialty hospitals of the armed forces and one of the oldest centres for cardio-thoracic surgery in the country.
Aarti Gokhale, chief coordinator of the zonal transplant coordination committee, said, "The journalist was in the DY Patil medical college. His brother consented to the heart transplant after counselling by doctors. We selected the JCO as he was on the waitlist. We verified medical parameters such as height, weight, and blood group of patients and found the JCO to be a good match."
"The doctors at the college and AICTS worked on the transplant procedure together, and they transplanted the heart on Monday through a green corridor created by the Corps of Military Police of the Southern Command and Pune Traffic Police. It was done smoothly as per the protocol," she added.
At AICTS, the recipient was already in the operating theatre, and the native heart was about to be removed from the patient's body. "A team of our doctors comprising three cardio surgeons and three anaesthetists successfully transplanted the heart within four hours of surgery. Now, the patient is in a stable condition under observation in the ICU," an army doctor said.
This was the seventh successful heart transplant at AICTS in the last two years. The hospital has established standard operating procedures for this kind of exercise. It has established a proper mechanism to coordinate with civil agencies, including hospitals in Pune and outside hospitals across the country. If required, the hospital also takes the help of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to bring organs within the mandated time.
In February 2023, the heart of a 40-year-old brain-dead veteran was flown to Pune in a special plane of the IAF from New Delhi and transplanted to the wife of a serving soldier.