Heart from Coimbatore to be airlifted to Kochi

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The heart of a brain-dead patient from Coimbatore will be airlifted to Kochi for transplant. The heart of 17-year-old Nirmal Kumar hailing from Erode who suffered brain death after a road accident will be flown to Lissey Hospital in Kochi for transplant on Monday.
This is the first time that an organ is being brought from other state to Kerala for transplant.Nirmal Kumar suffered brain death on Sunday morning at Kovai Medical Centre in Coimbatore. He met with an accident on September 27 at Erode.
The doctors of this hospital spoke to his parents about importance of organ donation following which Nirmal Kumar’s parents accepted to donate his organs. The liver and kidneys of Nirmal was harvested and given to the patients there.
However his heart was not matching any the recipients there and hence the hospital authorities contacted the Kerala Network of Organ Sharing. As per the registered patients under KNOS 32-year-old Jithesh admitted to Lissie Hospital matched with the donor and hence it was decided to airlift the organ.
A team led Dr Jose Chacko Periyapuram will be leaving to Coimbatore on Monday by 2am in a private aircraft. The surgery to harvest the heart will begin by 7am and will be brought to Kochi by 11am.