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A change of heart

A change of heart With only Parliament's approval of the Organ Transplant Bill on June 15 gave a chance to a team of doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi to perform India's first successful heart transplant. The operation was performed on August 3 on Deviram, a 45-year-old patient suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy. According to P Venugopal, leader of the team, "We could have done it long ago, but the law was not on our side. We were waiting for the legal definition of brain death." The act allows the transplantation of organs from brain-dead patients.

The heart condition of Deviram, a resident of the Dakshinpuri resettlement colony in Delhi, had been diagnosed in 1989. When he was admitted to AIIMS on July 20 this year, he was nearly a terminal case. He could only be saved if he got a new heart. The transplanted heart was taken from 35-year-old Rajbala, who slipped into a coma on July 31 following an operation. As all her systems except the brain were functioning, her family's willingness to donate her heart was crucial.

Deviram's survival after the transplant depends mainly on his body accepting the new heart. He will, however, have to take Cyclosporin-A, an immunosuppressant drug, for the rest of his life. According to K K Sethi, professor of cardiology at GB pant hospital, "This can make the patient susceptible to other infections." The success of the operation has provided a glimmer of hope for heart patients in India who need a transplant. The operation at AIIMS costs about Rs 40,000, which is a fraction of what it would cost in the US -- about Rs 30 lakh.

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