Andhra Pradesh minister Nara Lokesh arranges special flight to transport brain-dead patient’s organs

VIJAYAWADA: In a humanitarian gesture, IT and HRD minister Nara Lokesh arranged a special flight at his own expense to transport the organs of a brain dead patient from Guntur to Tirupati to save a life. The transported heart was transplanted to a child at Sri Padmavati paediatric super specialty in Tirupati.
Following instructions from Lokesh, police in different districts created green channels for quick transport of organs. The minister's timely response saved four lives as organs from the brain dead patient were transplanted to four critically-ill patients in different locations.
According to information, a 47-year-old woman patient Cherukuri Sushma of Guntur, who was undergoing treatment at Aster Ramesh hospital in Guntur for the past four days, was declared brain dead on Thursday. The doctors' team at Ramesh hospitals convinced Sushma's family members to donate the organs in order to save lives of others. The management representatives of Ramesh hospital sent an SOS to Nara Lokesh, requesting help. The minister quickly responded and promised to arrange a special flight for the transfer of the heart to Tirupati. He directed the IGs and SPs of Guntur, Tirupati and Vijayawada to establish a green channel until the organs reached their destination.
The doctors thanked Lokesh as, what looked like an impossible task, was successfully carried out with the minister's intervention. While the heart was transported to Tirupati, lungs were donated to a patient in Kims, Hyderabad. Ramesh hospital utilised one kidney while donated another kidney to a patient at Kamineni hospitals in Vijayawada.
"We extend our sincere gratitude to IT minister Nara Lokesh for his timely and generous help in transporting organs to different destinations. He had also arranged special flight to shift heart to Tirupati with his own cost," said Ramesh hospital's managing director Dr Ramesh Babu Pothineni.