CHENNAI: The 175-year-old Government General Hospital on Thursday did its first heart transplant on a 20-year-old woman with the donation that came from the parents of 17-year-old brain dead boy from Salem who sustained severe head injuries in a road traffic accident. The heart transplant team was headed by chief cardiac surgeon Dr Viswakumar.

With three hospitals in the city Frontier LifeLine, Apollo Hospitals and Government General Hospital -- holding valid heart transplant licenses, the city has done nearly a dozen heart transplants in the last one year. Having done more than 20 heart transplants, the highest number by any city in the country, Chennai also has a high success rate, with 70% of the recipients living for more than a year after the transplant.

The teenaged boy from Salem was admitted to Global Hospitals in Chennai and declared brain early this morning. When his parents signed the forms for organ donation, the hospital called the state's central organ transplant network co-ordinator Dr J Amalorpavanathan.

A team of doctors from GH retrieved the heart. While the liver and a kidney were retained by Global Hospitals, the other kidney was given to Sri Ramachandra University and the eyes went to the Government Ophthalmic Hospital in Egmore. "This boy has given life to at least four others and vision to two people," said Dr Amalorpavanathan.

City police commissioner T Rajendran was also informed and police almost instantly turned on the "green corridor" for speedy transport of the harvested organs. The heart reached the GH in 45 minutes. By then, the 20-year-old girl who was suffering from a chronic heart disease was prepared for the surgery. The girl, according Dr Viswakumar, had a dilated heart. "She had severe breathlessness and could not even walk a few steps. She has been suffering for the last one year. We are happy that we could help her," he said.

The patient's condition was stable but doctors say they would know about the success of the transplant only after a few days. "We have put her in an isolated room. She will be on immunosuppressants. We hope she takes the transplant well," said GH dean Dr J Mohanasundaram.