Doctors at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai have successfully transplanted heart and lungs into Ambili Fathima, a 22-year-old Kerala girl, who was diagnosed with a rare medical condition. She will be under observation for the next 72 hours and doctors will be monitoring whether her body rejects the foreign organs.
The operation was conducted on Thursday, 13 August, which also happens to be the World Organ Donation Day, hospital sources said.
A rare, fatal disease
Ambili was diagnosed with a hole in her heart when she was just two years old. Due to the hole, pure blood was getting mixed up with impure blood, causing the lungs to stall.
An MCom final year student of CMS College, Kerala, she became an overnight sensation after her rare organ disorder was reported on popular news portals on 6 June. Soon, the news spread like wildfire and Ambili received donations from around the world.
Colleges affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam collected almost Rs 25 lakh and a crowd-funding initiative generated more than Rs 40 lakh, which was required to be deposited at the hospital.
And a rare, specialised procedure
The 11-hours-long rare surgery, headed by Dr Sundar, Dr Paul Ramesh and Dr Madan began at 4 am on Thursday after the relatives of a brain dead patient agreed for organ donation on Wednesday night.
Want to help her? Here are the bank account details:
Name: Ambili Basheer; Bank and Branch: SBT CMS branch; Account Number: 67122456912; IFSC Code: SBTR0000484. Phone: 9447314172
