The Department of Cardio Vascular & Thoracic Surgery & Cardiac Anesthesiology have successfully performed the 11th and 12th heart transplants at KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital on 23.09.2023 and 26.09.2023. The recipients are young patients aged 18 and 23 hailing from Jamkhandi and Hukkeri. KLES Hospital has emerged as the only “Multi-Organ Transplant Centre” of North Karnataka which is successfully performing Heart, Liver, Kidney transplants.
History & background of 11th & 12th Heart Transplant patients:
18 Year boy from Jamakhandi was pursuing his studies in Moodbidari where he had difficulty in climbing stairs, weakness, swelling in the body and episodes of omitting, chest pain. He had been to many hospitals including a corporate Hospital in Bengaluru.
He was diagnosed as dilated cardiomyopathy with ejection of fraction of heart around 14%. Post Heart Transplant he is making study progress and will be discharged in a day. He is the 11th patient to undergo successful heart transplant.
12th patient to undergo heart transplant is a 25 year girl who is a Science graduate. Prior to transplant she suffered from loss of appetite, omitting, nausea, breathlessness while climbing. She was diagnosed as restrictive cardiomyopathy. Post heart transplant she has made remarkable improvement and is in good health said her mother. Her ambition is to continue her studies and successfully complete M.Sc.
Donors:
One of the donor heart was retrieved from SDM College of Medical Sciences, Dharwad while the other was from KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital & MRC, Belagavi. The teams of intensivists, transplant coordinators, State Organ Tissue & Transplant Organisation (SOTTO) are to be applauded for their networking, coordination and herculean efforts to maintain and facilitate donor retrieval. The police and our ambulance service have extended tremendous support to bring heart from SDM Hospital Dharwad to Belagavi in a record time of 55 mins.
Remarks by Dr. Richard Saldanha:
Heart Transplant is a the most complex & challenging task. It is a tremendous team effort involving surgeons, anesthesiologists, perfusionists, nurses and technicians. He praised and appreciated the effort of team members for excellent outcomes. Dr. Richard disclosed hospital will soon be doing “LUNG TRNASPLANT” in the near future.
Dr. Prabhakar Kore, Chairman KE Society:
He congratulated the family members for taking a bold decision to undergo heart transplant for their children. He wished the patients speedy recovery & best of luck in their future studies.
Dr. Kore expressed his thanks to the family members who donated the organs for saving some one’s life who are unknown to them. It is a supreme sacrifice said Dr. Kore. He further stressed the heart transplant is done free of cost for needy patients of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families under Arogya Karnataka-Ayusman Bharath Scheme. Heart Transplant which costs Rs. 25-30 lakh in metros is offered at a least cost of Rs. 10 lakh only. Dr. Kore expressed happiness over more and more people have realized the importance of organ donation & are coming forward to donate organs.
So far the hospital has successfully performed 9 liver transplants, 76 Kidney Transplants, 80 corneal transplants. Our KLE-Rotary Skin Bank has supplied skins to far off places like Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bengaluru.