PUNE: The heart and other vital organs of a brain-dead 22-year-old student were donated by his family to four patients in Mumbai and Pune late on Friday evening. This is this year`s first heart donation and the tenth since 2015.The donated heart was successfully transplanted into a 29-year-old man suffering from end-stage heart disease at Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Mumbai.

The final year student, a resident of Sangvi, met with an accident and was initially admitted to Medipoint Hospital. He was later shifted to Sahyadri Speciality Hospital in Deccan Gymkhana. But he did not respond to medication and was declared brain dead on February 24.Soon after that, his family decided to donate his heart, liver, kidney, eyes and skin.A green corridor was created around 9pm on Friday evening from Sahyadri hospital to the Pune airport with the help of the zonal transplant coordination center (ZTCC) and the city`s traffic police team.

This was the first time that a heart was harvested at Sahyadri hospital."The ambulance carrying the heart in a medical preservation solution box reached Lohegaon airport in 20 minutes. From there, the heart was airlifted in a chartered flight. The recipient was extremely critical and was on the hospital`s super urgent waiting list due to his failing condition," said Aarti Gokhale, ZTCC`s transplant coordinator.The donated liver benefited a 46-year-old man suffering from end-stage liver disease, while the student`s kidneys helped a 61-year-old man at Sahyadri hospital. Both are now recuperating.Ketan Apte, the unit head of Sahyadri hospital, said, "The decision of the donor`s family of donating organs has saved four lives in Pune and Mumbai. This noble decision will motivate more people to donate organs."

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