Chennai's Fortis Malar hospital had carried out a 'green corridor operation' earlier.
Green corridors to facilitate organ transport used to be a phenomenon that happens in foreign countries. But not any more. Today, a heart was sent from Bangalore to Chennai in record time - thanks to green corridors on both sides.
The result: An upto 7-hour journey - including airport formalities and flight time - was completed in just 2 hours and seven minutes.
For Bangalore, it was a first. Two months ago, Chennai had already come to a halt to facilitate the transport of a heart. The recipient hospital in question was the same - the Fortis Malar in Adyar.
But today, given the distance, the time factor was crucial, explained Dr N K Venkataramana, vice president of Bangalore's BGS Hospital. "A human heart can be preserved for only 7 hours if stored well".
Obviously, special help was essential. So right after he got a call from Fortis this morning, Dr Venkataramana called the cops.
"I sought help from traffic police to provide us with a green corridor," he said. And the procedure went without a hitch. "The traffic police arranged for everything."
The heart reached the airport in 40 minutes, instead of the usual one-and-a-half hours. The hospitals' technical teams coordinated throughout the transportation.
At the other end, the Fortis authorities and the Chennai police had things well under control. In June, the hospital did a green corridor transplant, where a heart was brought in from the city's Government General Hospital 12 km away.
Today, a green corridor formed on a 13-km stretch from the Chennai airport to Fortis. The journey took just 7 minutes.
Sources in Fortis told NDTV the transplant was carried out successfully.