Kochi: Ernakulam General Hospital on Monday created history by becoming the first district-level hospital in India to perform a heart transplant, giving a new lease of life to a 22-year-old woman from Nepal who had come to Kerala seeking treatment for cardiac sarcoidosis.

Cardiac sarcoidosis is a rare hereditary heart condition that had earlier claimed the lives of the woman’s mother and elder sister. She now has only a younger brother surviving. With no one to care for them, the siblings had been living in an orphanage, and a Malayali who runs it brought them to Kerala for treatment.

Kerala extended support to the orphaned Nepali woman after obtaining special permission from the High Court. As the Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (K-SOTTO) prioritises Indian citizens on its waiting list, the case initially faced delays. The woman approached the court, citing the lack of adequate transplant facilities in Nepal, her family’s inability to seek treatment in other countries and Kerala being the only affordable option. On December 11, the High Court directed K-SOTTO to treat the case as a priority.

The donor was S Shibu, who suffered brain death following a road accident. His family consented to the donation of seven organs. One kidney was transplanted at Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College Hospital, another at Travancore Medical College in Kollam, the liver at KIMS Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, and both corneas at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology. Shibu’s skin was also donated to the skin bank at Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College Hospital.

Health Minister Veena George thanked the family for agreeing to organ donation despite their immense grief and conveyed her condolences. She assured all necessary support to Ernakulam General Hospital.

From Sunday night onwards, authorities coordinated the operation. The Home Department arranged a helicopter to transport the heart to Ernakulam. Acting on the Chief Minister’s instructions, the police ensured road clearance along routes leading to the hospitals where the transplant procedures were carried out. The Medical Education Department, the police and district administrations worked in close coordination, while K-SOTTO oversaw the organ allocation.

Shibu, who worked at a hotel in Kazhakkoottam, met with an accident on December 14 at around 6.30 pm while returning home on his scooter. He fell from the vehicle at Mookkattukunnu in Kollam district. He was first admitted to Parippally Government Medical College Hospital and later shifted to Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College Hospital on December 15 for specialised treatment. Doctors confirmed brain death on December 21, following which the family consented to organ donation. He is survived by his mother, Shakunthala, and siblings Shiji S and Saleev S.