Around 4.40 PM, a team from Apollo hospitals started their journey with the live heart, and the metro train crossed 16 stations in half an hour.
Hyderabad Metro saves life! For the first time, a live heart was transported between two hospitals in the city of Hyderabad in a passenger-free metro train that was specially arranged. The Hyderabad Metro covered a distance of 21 kilometres in less than 30 minutes, according to an IE report. On Tuesday afternoon, the special green corridor was facilitated by Hyderabad Metro Rail between Nagole and Jubilee Hills to move a live heart from Kamineni hospital in LB Nagar to Apollo hospital in Jubilee Hills. This was done to save a critical patient who was in need of an urgent transplant. NVS Reddy, MD, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited was quoted in the report saying that a special dedicated train was run for the first time to transport a heart to save a life.
Around 4.40 PM, a team from Apollo hospitals started their journey with the live heart, and the metro train crossed 16 stations in half an hour. According to the report, a drive to the destination by road would have taken more than an hour time. MD and CEO of L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited, KVB Reddy thanked the two hospitals for reaching out to them with an opportunity to save a life. He said all safety measures were ensured along with creating a green corridor to mobilize a special non-stop passenger-free metro train from Nagole to Jubilee hills, facilitating the organ transportation in a quest to save a life.
All metro stations were kept on guard regarding the special train movement and also, an ambulance was kept ready at Jubilee Hills Checkpost station to move the live organ to the hospital without any delay. In the special train, only a team of medical experts travelled along with the organ.
According to Apollo Hospital’s Dr. AGK Gokhale, who travelled along with the live heart in the metro train, a 44-year-old patient was in a critical stage in Apollo hospital and was in urgent need of heart transplantation. When they came to know about the availability of a healthy organ from a 45-year-old person in Kamineni hospital who was brain-dead, the main challenge that came in front of them was the distance between the two facilities and the traffic on road.
A logistics problem was faced by them as the two hospitals are on two ends of the city, he said. Even if a green channel was created on-road, it would take more than an hour to reach the hospital, he further said. If a heart is harvested for transplantation, it should start working in four hours’ time. Due to lack of a helicopter, this was the best option available. With this metro train, around half-an-hour to 45 minutes time was saved, he added.
