Brain-dead Muslim donates heart to Hindu patient

AHMEDABAD/RAJKOT: A brain-dead Muslim man and his family saved the life of a Hindu person, by allowing surgeons to perform a heart transplant operation to enable the Hindu patient to keep on living. 

The heart of a brain-dead Muslim by the name of Asif Juneja, a native of Sod Vadla village in Sihor taluka, was transplanted into a Hindu person by the name of Ambalya. The heart of the Muslim farmer was flown in from Bhavnagar in a chartered flight to Ahmedabad, where the surgery was performed in a private hospital.

Asif Juneja became critically ill after he was hit by a speeding car on December 17. He was rushed to a private hospital but doctors pronounced him brain dead. Soon after, a neurosurgeon advised the family members of the Muslim man to have his heart donated to someone who needed it more. 

"We counselled Juneja's family members to donate this vital organs and they readily agreed. Besides the heart, his two kidneys, liver and pancreas were also harvested for four other needy patients," Dr. Rajendra Kabariya, a neurosurgeon. Dr Kabariya said that his hospital in Bhavnagar contacted the Ahmedabad-based hospital where Ambalya was being treated, through an agency.

Juneja was a physically fit man and his blood type was O negative (universal donor). Meanwhile, Ambalya was suffering from histamine cardiac disorder, which is a severe case of heart failure. The Hindu patient had been put on a ventilator and a balloon pump.

"When we completely ran out of options to save his life, we got to know about the organs of this brain dead person in Bhavnagar," Dr Shah, a vascular surgeon in the Ahmedabad-based hospital, said.

"The heart was harvested from Bhavnagar at 8:20 am on Monday and brought through a chartered flight. A green corridor was made from Bhavnagar city to the airport and our hospital. The surgery that started at 9.30 am lasted for around four hours and the heart could be transplanted successfully," he further disclosed.