New Delhi: A special plane of the Indian Army flew the heart of a 34-year-old brain-dead man in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, to Pune in order to transplant it into a soldier with a heart condition, said officials.
"In an operation that went on through the night, aircraft of @CAC_CPRO & @SWAC_IAF were employed to retrieve & transport a live heart for a serving @adgpi patient, from Indore to Pune. In doing so, the aircrew & Medical team involved have truly displayed the spirit of jointness," the IAF tweeted on Monday.
A senior official stated that the patient is an Army jawan and that two aircraft, one from the Central Air Command and one from the South Western Air Command, were involved in the transportation process.
An official from the Indore Society for Organ Donation stated that vegetable trader Pradeep Aswani, from Ujjain, was admitted to a private Indore hospital for treatment after suffering a serious head injury in a road accident on January 20.
He claimed that the doctors declared Aswani brain dead after his condition did not improve.
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The official stated that surgeons were able to retrieve the man's heart, liver, kidneys, and eyes after the man's devastated family agreed to donate his organs.
Dr. Pawan Kumar Sharma, Indore's Divisional Commissioner (Revenue), told PTI that a team of Army doctors will transplant the heart taken from Aswani's body to the soldier in Pune in a special plane.
Aswani's elder sister Neelam Khushlani said, "It is a matter of great pride for our family that my late brother's heart is going to be transplanted to a soldier. I feel that (after the heart transplant) my brother will live as a soldier and serve the country." Meanwhile, Aswani's kidneys, liver and eyes will be transplanted to needy patients in local hospitals, said Sandipan Arya, a volunteer of "Muskan Group", an organisation associated with the Indore Society for Organ Donation.
Witnesses claimed that Aswani's body was taken to a private hospital in the city for the final rites.
The bugle was sounded by Madhya Pradesh police officers as a tribute to Aswani in the presence of doctors and the local Lok Sabha MP Shankar Lalwani.