New Delhi, February 18: Heart harvested from a man in Pune was on Tuesday airlifted to Delhi and then transported to a hospital here through an 18-km green corridor, officials said. The surgery to transplant the donated heart of the 47-year-old brain-dead person into a 34-year-old woman patient was underway at the private hospital here, they said.

"Heart was retrieved from a brain-dead patient in Pune and then flown to Delhi. A green corridor was then made from Delhi airport to the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute (FEHI) to transport the organ for a transplant surgery," a hospital spokesperson said. The distance of 18 km was covered in 21 minutes, the police said. Live Heart Transported From Mumbai to Delhi for Transplant Via Green Corridor in 2.5 Hours.

"The team at FEHI was alerted by National Organ Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) about a possible donor heart in Ruby Hall Clinic in Pune earlier today. The team immediately left for Pune to retrieve the heart," the hospital said in a statement.

The recipient, undergoing treatment at the hospital, was in critical condition for almost a month and on levosimendan infusion support, it said.

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