MUMBAI: In the first such instance, a human organ was ferried on a Mumbai local train on Friday for transplant.A cadaver liver was carried in an ice box from Thane's Jupiter Hospital to Parel's Global Hospital, where the recipient was admitted, in 38 minutes during non-peak hours. The journey was supported by a green corridor created for the ambulance by traffic police personnel in Thane and in Dadar. Central Railway officials admitted it was a challenge but said they would encourage transportation of organs even in future to save lives.The donor's family facilitated the city's 15th organ donation of the year and gave a new lease of life to three people.The 53-year-old Ulhasnagar-based donor had met with an accident in Dombivli on Wednesday. After being treated in a local hospital, he was shifted to Jupiter where doctors found him brain dead in the emergency ward itself. The donor, who worked as an aarogya mitra (health volunteer), had already pledged his organs and even educated his family about it."The donor's wife readily agreed as it was her husband's last wish to donate his organs. This is perhaps one of the cases where we can see the importance of donor pledge cards," said Jupiter Hospital's transplant coordinator Aniruddha Kulkarni.After the donor was declared brain-dead on Friday, the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC) was alerted. The liver was allotted to Global Hospital in Parel and the kidneys to Jaslok and Sion hospitals.Global Hospital authorities had informed Central Railways in advance as the organ had to be retrieved and transferred as soon as possible. A hospital statement said: "Considering that the retrieval was planned for 11am and the possible transportation leg would have been around 12.30pm-which is peak traffic time for vehicular movement on the Eastern Express Highway-the Global Hospital team possibly thought of using the local train network as the fastest and most reliable way of transporting the organ."Around 3pm, a four-member team left Jupiter located on the Eastern Express Highway at Thane in an ambulance. "We created a separate lane for the ambulance to travel to the Thane railway station without any obstruction. Traffic constables were posted at every junction on the route and other vehicular movement was withheld. The journey took seven minutes via Teen Haath Naka, Kopri Bridge and Kopri Circle," said an inspector with Thane traffic police.The team got off at Thane railway station where RPF and railway police personnel were waiting for them. The team was ushered to platform number 6 where they got into a 3.08pm Karjat-CSMT fast local in a first-class compartment. An RPF constable, Mahajan, accompanied the team throughout their train to ensure the safety of the organ."A Global Hospital staffer had reached Dadar station early to coordinate with railway staff. But there was slight confusion. The team carrying the liver had boarded the middle first-class compartment while the railway staff had been told to expect the team in the last first-class compartment," said a source. An alert MSF (Maharashtra Security Force) jawan posted outside the middle first-class compartment noticed the hospital team in the nick of time and alerted his superiors. Passengers had already been moved out of the area between the platform and the station exit. "Platform 6 is parallel to the street so the team did not have to take a staircase after alighting from the train," said an officer. CCTV footage shows the team run out of the platform escorted by the station master and RPF in less than two minutes. They jumped into the waiting ambulance outside carrying the ice box.Three personnel from the Matunga and Bhoiwada traffic teams took over. "We had already cleared vehicles and kept a lane free for the ambulance. Within four minutes, the Jupiter hospital team reached Global Hospital via Broadway junction, Parel TT and Parel bridge," said a traffic police officer."I do not recollect a human organ being transported on Central Railways before this," said D M Sharma, general manager, Central Railways. "Nothing is more certain than local trains and under the given constraints, we are trying to be as punctual as possible. Even in future, we will certainly be party to such a noble cause to save lives," Sharma added.An expert told TOI that transporting organs by a train is not advisable simply because it cannot be better than the door-to-door transfer that is facilitated by traffic police through green corridors. "Having said that, there are no infection risks involved in either mode of travel," said the expert. Livers can be preserved for between 12 and 18 hours. ZTCC's Dr Satish Mathur, who is also a consultant with Global Hospital, said that transportation of an organ is at the discretion of the hospital and the team concerned. "As long as organ preservation guidelines are followed, it shouldn't matter if an organ is being transported by road or air," he said.

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