"I am deeply touched to learn about a 15-year-old girl donor who gave a new lease of life to six lives including 32-year-old Laxmi Devi following her heart transplant surgery at ABVIMS, Dr RML Hospital. This was the first successful heart transplant done at ABVIMS, Dr RML Hospital," Mandaviya wrote on Twitter.
"Organ donation is the most priceless life-saving gift. This great act of selflessness, generosity and compassion is inspirational. It will motivate many to come forward and strengthen the humanitarian cause of organ donation and become the reason why someone's heart beats," he further tweeted.
A 15-year-old girl who was declared brain dead after a gruesome road accident on August 15, saved the lives of six people, including a woman from Bihar's Bhagalpur, by donating her organs before dying. She was kept on ventilator to sustain her organs on August 20, according to news agency ANI.
Ajo Manji, her father who is a daily wage labourer consulted with the transplant coordinator at the Chandigarh hospital about the girl's medical condition. Later, he came forward to donate all organs of Basu to needful persons suffering from end-stage diseases and awaiting healthy organs to have a new life.
On August 21, the NOTTO released an alert about the availability of the donor's organs at the PGIMER-Chandigarh. Following this, ABVIMS Dr RML Hopsital conducted the first heart transplant on a 32-year-old woman in New Delhi, said a statement issued by the hospital.
How doctors conducted the heart transplantation?
As per ANI reports, a team of cardiac surgeons from RML hospital and AIIMS reached PGI Chandigarh the same evening to harvest the donor's heart which was then expeditiously flown to New Delhi within two hours by dint of a green corridor arranged by PGIMER-Chandigarh.
The statement stated that the surgery was conducted by Dr Vijay Grover Head, CTVS, and his team comprising Dr Milind Hote, Dr Narender Jhajharia, Dr Palash Aiyer, and cardiac anesthetists led by Dr Ramesh Kashev and Dr Jaswinder Kohli.
The surgery started at 9 am on August 21, and was completed at 3 am on August 22. After the surgery, the patient was transferred to CTVS ICU following her stable condition. At present, the patient is recovering and has been extubated from the ventilator.
"It's a big and historic achievement for us. It was a very difficult task but thanks to our dedicated teams because all of them have worked for hand in hand to make it successful," Dr Nandini Duggal, Director, and MS of RML Hospital told ANI.
"This woman had been suffering for the past 7-8 years before she underwent the longest surgery. Initially, she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy when she was a child," another team member, Dr Vijay Grover said.
(With ANI inputs)
