MP man’s heart flown to Pune for ailing Army soldier

The heart from a 34-year-old brain dead man in Madhya Pradesh's Indore was flown to Pune in a special plane of the Indian Army on Monday.

Indore: The heart from a 34-year-old brain dead man in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore was flown to Pune in a special plane of the Indian Army on Monday to be transplanted to a soldier suffering from a heart ailment, an official said.

Pradeep Aswani, a vegetable trader from Ujjain, sustained a serious head injury in a road accident on the night of January 20 and was admitted to a private hospital in Indore for treatment, the official from Indore Society for Organ Donation said.

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Aswani’s condition did not improve and the doctors declared him brain dead, he said.

The man’s grief-stricken family agreed to donate his organs, following which surgeons retrieved his heart, liver, kidneys and eyes, the official said.

Talking to PTI, Indore’s Divisional Commissioner (Revenue) Dr Pawan Kumar Sharma said that a team of Army doctors took the heart harvested from Aswani’s body to Pune in a special plane and the organ will be transplanted to the soldier.

Aswani’s elder sister Neelam Khushlani said, “It is a matter of great pride for our family that my late brother’s heart is going to be transplanted to a soldier. I feel that (after the heart transplant) my brother will live as a soldier and serve the country.” Meanwhile, Aswani’s kidneys, liver and eyes will be transplanted to needy patients in local hospitals, said Sandipan Arya, a volunteer of “Muskan Group”, an organisation associated with the Indore Society for Organ Donation.

According to eyewitnesses, Aswani’s body was sent for last rites from a private hospital in the city.

Personnel from the Madhya Pradesh police sounded the bugle as a tribute to Aswani in the presence of local Lok Sabha MP Shankar Lalwani and doctors.