Transplant liver rushed from Thane-Parel, this time via Mumbai local
In a first, a human organ was transported from one hospital to another via Mumbai local trains. On Friday, a liver meant for transplant, kept in an ice box, was ferried from Jupiter Hospital in Thane to Global Hospital in Parel, where the patient receiving the liver was admitted. The transportation was done in 38 minutes during non-peak hours. Here's how it happened.
On Wednesday, a Ulhasnagar resident, 53, met with an accident in Dombivali, and was declared brain dead in Jupiter Hospital's emergency ward itself. When his wife was contacted, she readily agreed for his organ donation, as "it was her husband's last wish to donate his organs," Aniruddha Kulkarni, Jupiter Hospital's transplant coordinator, told media. The brain dead man was an aarogya mitra (health volunteer).
After obtaining the permission, the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee was alerted on Friday. While his liver was allotted to Global Hospital, kidneys went to Sion and Jaslok hospitals. This way the donor gave a new lease of life to three people by donating his organs.
The Global Hospital authorities had already informed the Central Railways authorities in advance about the liver transportation. As the liver was to be retrieved around 11am and the possible transportation leg would've been around 12:30pm, which is the peak-hour for vehicular traffic on the Eastern Express Highway, the Global Hospital thought local trains would be the fastest and most reliable option, hospital authorities said.
Around 3pm, a four-member team left Jupiter Hospital in an ambulance. "We created a separate lane (green corridor) for the ambulance to travel to the Thane railway station. Traffic constables were posted at every junction of the route," a Thane traffic police inspector said. Thereafter, the train reached Dadar in 27 minutes flat. A green corridor was created in Dadar as well.
Explaining how it took so less time, the inspector said vehicular movement was withheld on the route and the journey to Thane station "took seven minutes via Teen Haath Naka, Kopri Bridge, and Kopri Circle." The RPF was waiting at the station for the hospital team, and all of them together boarded the middle first-class compartment in the 3:08pm Karjat-CSMT fast local.
Meanwhile, at the Dadar station, a Global Hospital staffer had reached early to coordinate with the railway staff. The railway staff at Dadar were expecting the Jupiter Hospital team in the last first-class compartment, but they were in the middle first-class compartment. Fortunately, an alert Maharashtra Security Force jawan posted outside the middle first-class apartment spotted the Jupiter Hospital team, who alerted his superiors.
Meanwhile, the area between the platform and station exit was kept crowd-free by the railway staff. "Platform 6 is parallel to the street. So the team did not have to take a staircase after alighting from the train," an officer said. The team was escorted out of the platform by the station master and RPF in less than two minutes.
Outside Dadar station, an ambulance was waiting for the Jupiter Hospital team. Like in Thane, traffic police personnel had cleared the route from Dadar station to Global Hospital and the ambulance reached in 4 minutes. Happy for contributing to the cause, DM Sharma, General Manager, Central Railways, said, "Even in future, we will certainly be party to such a noble cause to save lives."
