Hyderabad : Metro makes special run to transport heart, saves life

Hyderabad : Establishing a 'Green Channel' to transport the organs from one hospital to another, or from airport to hospital, in the shortest possible time to save the precious lives of patients waiting for organ transplant in the operation theatre, is not new.

But for the first time, the Hyderabad Metro Rail was utilised this time for transporting a live heart from Kamineni Hospital in L B Nagar to Apollo Hospital in Jubilee Hills on Tuesday.

"Hyderabad Metro Rail created a special green corridor between Nagole and Jubilee Hills Check Post stations to facilitate the non-stop transport of a harvested heart from Kamineni Hospital to save a heart patient at Apollo Hospital," said Hyderabad Metro Rail MD NVS Reddy. He said this was the first time that such a dedicated passenger-less coach was run to transport a heart to save a life.

The special train, started from Nagole station, picked up the healthy heart harvested from a brain-dead patient in Kamineni Hospital at 4.40 pm and paced through the entire stretch of 21 km nonstop, crossing 16 stations and reaching Jubilee Hills in 30 minutes, Reddy said.

All stations were kept on guard regarding the movement of this special train.

An ambulance was kept ready at Jubilee Hills Check Post station to take the heart and rush to the hospital. A team of medical experts only travelled along with the harvested heart in the special train, he added.

"We decided to take Metro and not road route as it was a 21-km journey via several traffic-intensive areas which will take at least 60 minutes or more due to certain flyover works.

The Metro will take barely 30-40 minutes," said Anoop Antony, Transplant Coordinator of Apollo Hospital, Jubilee Hills.