August 2, 1994,11 pm. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. The phone lines start jangling between the Neurosciences and Cardio-Thoracic Vascular Surgery Centers. ‘We have a potential donor-do you have a recipient? The family is ready-hurry, hurry’.
It had been a long day, I was still in my office in the ICU area. But,of course, we were ready! I had been preparing for this day for the last many months. Flying with teams transporting hearts across the US, witnessing transplants, reading up on all that was there. And now, with the Organ Donation Act in place, there was nothing to hold us back. We swung into action with the prep; Devi Ram, aged 45 years, had the matching blood group and was wheeled into the OT from the ward. At the same time, the AIIMS panel of neurologists, attending physician, cardiologist and the Medical Superintendent began the process of certifying the donor, a lady in her 40’s, as brain dead and fit for donating. Around 2 a.m. she was brought into OT#4 and the process of heart harvesting began by one team. In the adjacent OT #1, the recipient was being cut open in readiness for the transfer by another team. At about 3 am,I saw my assisting surgeon walk in with the donor heart packed in ice, and the process of transplanting began.
I’m not sure what went on in the minds of my amazing team as they worked shoulder-to-shoulder, hand-to-hand with me that night, but there was a calm and rehearsed rhythm in the OT. On the surface it was pretty much like an open-heart bypass that we did every single day, but at the back of my mind ticked the persistent thought,’we have to make it, we have to succeed, else this will clamp down on the transplantation program even before it begins’. Only one such unsuccessful attempt had been made many years ago in India, and at no cost did I want a repeat! It took 59 minutes to have the heart in and working on the bypass-and then it started beating on its own.
As told to Priya Sarkar(wife).
To continue