Kerala: 13-Year-Old Gets New Lease on Life After Heart Transplant

Thiruvananthapuram- A 13-year-old girl from Chavakkad, Kerala has received a new lease of life after a five-hour heart transplant operation. The child had been on the ventilator for the last two months due to severe cardiomyopathy.

The operation was carried out by a team of doctors at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) in Kerala. The procedure is costly and only available to a few who can afford it, making it difficult for many to access such treatment, even in life-threatening conditions.

The 13-year-old girl's case is one that brought the attention of the hospital to the need for organ donation. The Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (K-SOTTO) allocated the donor's heart to SCTIMST, following a government directive. The organ was taken from a 47-year-old school teacher who had suffered from a sustained brain hemorrhage due to ruptured intracranial aneurysm and had been declared dead at a nearby hospital.

A team of doctors, including Dr. Baiju S Dharan, Dr. Vivek V Pillai, and Dr. Soumya Remanan, performed the lengthy operation. The operation was assisted by a number of other medical and paramedical staff. The organ was successfully transplanted, and the girl is now recovering well. The hospital has also arranged for the quick transportation of the organ by the Kerala Police.

Heart transplant operations are costly and paediatric heart transplants are rare because of the limited availability of paediatric hearts. This makes such treatment for heart diseases inaccessible to many who cannot afford it even under life threatening conditions.

This is a significant achievement for the SCTIMST, as it has now become one of the few regional centers for pediatric heart transplants in Kerala. The operation has also brought attention to the importance of organ donation, which has the potential to save lives and bring hope to the dead.