Doctors at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, successfully performed North and West Delhi’s first heart transplant, giving a new lease of life to a 47-year-old man, Mr. Chanchal Yadav, who was battling advanced heart failure. For years, the patient had struggled with a severely weakened heart. Despite receiving the best available medical treatment, his heart’s pumping capacity continued to deteriorate. Consequently, he became bedridden, experienced extreme breathlessness and suffered frequent, life-threatening cardiac shocks that required emergency device implantation.
As conventional treatments failed to control his condition and his health continued to worsen, a heart transplant became his only viable option for survival. A multidisciplinary team led by Dr. Dinesh Kumar Mittal, Senior Director and Head of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, performed the life-saving procedure.
Green Corridor Transports Donor Heart from Rohtak in 63 Minutes
A critical breakthrough came when a suitable donor heart became available at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana. Immediately after receiving the alert, the transplant team at Fortis Shalimar Bagh mobilised to coordinate organ retrieval, transportation and transplantation.
The operation required precise planning and rapid coordination across state borders. Hospital administrators, transplant coordinators, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO), the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (SOTTO), and traffic police authorities in Haryana and Delhi worked together to facilitate organ allocation and transportation.
To minimise delays, the authorities established a dedicated green corridor. As a result, the donor heart travelled approximately 95 kilometres from Rohtak to Fortis Shalimar Bagh in just 63 minutes. This coordinated effort ensured that the donor organ reached the hospital within the critical time window, allowing the surgical team to proceed with the transplant without delay.
Timely Transplant Offers Hope to Patient with Advanced Heart Failure
Explaining the complexity of the procedure, Dr. Dinesh Kumar Mittal, Senior Director and Head of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, said, “A heart transplant is among the most time-critical procedures in medicine, where every minute can have a direct bearing on the outcome. From the moment the donor heart was retrieved in Rohtak to the restoration of blood flow in our patient, every step had to be meticulously planned and precisely executed.”
He added that the successful outcome reflected the seamless coordination among the organ retrieval, transplant surgery, anaesthesia, perfusion and critical care teams. He also confirmed that the patient was recovering well. Dr. Mittal emphasised that transplantation was a critical, potentially life-saving intervention. Without timely access to a donor heart, the patient’s prognosis would have been extremely poor.
Heart Transplant Provides Definitive Treatment for Advanced Heart Failure
Dr. Naresh Kumar Goyal, Principal Director and Head of Cardiology and the Heart Failure Programme at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, explained that the patient had reached an advanced stage of heart failure, in which optimal medical therapy and an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (AICD) could no longer adequately manage his condition. At this stage, a heart transplant offered the most definitive treatment option and a meaningful opportunity to improve his quality of life. Dr. Goyal also expressed gratitude to the donor’s family for their extraordinary act of generosity, which has given the patient a renewed opportunity for recovery and a longer, more active life.
Multidisciplinary Coordination Strengthens Organ Transplant Services
Highlighting the significance of the achievement, Mr. Mahipal Bhanot, Senior Vice President and Regional Director, Operations, and Operations Lead – NCR Projects, Fortis Healthcare, said, “This successful heart transplant is a testament to the exceptional clinical capabilities, round-the-clock dedication, and emergency coordination of our multidisciplinary teams. As Delhi witnesses the launch of SOTTO, milestone procedures like this reinforce our unwavering commitment to strengthening organ donation awareness and delivering world-class healthcare to the community.”
Naveen Sharma, Vice President and Facility Director at Fortis Shalimar Bagh, highlighted the importance of collaboration among transplant coordinators, NOTTO and the police authorities in Delhi and Haryana. He said their swift action and vigilance helped ensure the safe and timely transportation of the donor heart. Their collective efforts turned a complex, time-sensitive inter-state operation into a successful example of teamwork and coordination. As per the press release, the successful heart transplant underscores the importance of timely organ donation, efficient transportation networks and coordinated medical expertise in treating patients with advanced heart failure. It also highlights how collaboration between healthcare teams and public authorities can help save lives through organ transplantation.