India's first international transplant; 27-year-old Ukrainian undergoes complex heart surgery

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New Delhi: A 27-year-old woman from Ukraine has become the first foreign national to undergo heart transplant surgery in India.

The young woman had registered with Fortis hospital in Mulund, Maharashtra and was waiting for a transplant.

She was in urgent need of a donor as she was diagnosed with post-partum dilated cardiomyopathy and fortunately, she found a donor in a 22-year-old man from Surat, Gujarat who was declared brain dead after meeting a road accident.

As per a report published in Times of India, a Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee member said the National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Committee sprung into action and checked with every other centre carrying out heart transplants in the country to find if there was any suitable recipient.

Dr Sunil Shroff of Mohan Foundation said an organ is allocated to a foreigner only after the national list followed by the NRI waiting list is exhausted.

Calling it a positive trend, Dr Shroff said, "At least 10-15% organs in Tamil Nadu go to foreigners, including children. The idea is to give back, like many Indians get organs from abroad."