Dr Sanjeev Jadhav is the chief cardiothoracic surgeon at Apollo Hospitals in Mumbai. (Representational)
A cardiothoracic surgeon suffered injuries in an accident while travelling with a medical team in an airport-bound ambulance carrying harvested lungs from a hospital near Pune for transplant on a patient in Chennai, but chose to ignore his own pain and performed the lifesaving surgical procedure hours later, showing an exemplary commitment to his duty.
Dr Sanjeev Jadhav said he suffered injuries in the accident on Monday evening, but went ahead with his scheduled programme and performed the lung transplant surgery on the 26-year-old patient in the Tamil Nadu capital with the help of his medical team.
The ambulance carrying harvested lungs from a hospital near Pune city along with Dr Jadhav met with the accident in Pimpri-Chinchwad township while it was on its way to the Lohegaon airport here.
Dr Jadhav, the chief cardiothoracic surgeon at Apollo Hospitals in Navi Mumbai, said after the road crash, caused due to a suspected tyre burst on the Harris Bridge, he did not waste time and quickly got into another vehicle that was trailing the ambulance.
They reached the airport with the harvested lifesaving organ and boarded a chartered plane waiting to fly to Chennai, he said.
The lungs of a 19-year-old man, who had committed suicide, were retrieved at D Y Patil Hospital in Pimpri-Chinchwad on Monday. The critical organ was slated to be transported to Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals, where a patient was scheduled to undergo the lung transplant procedure.
The viability of the retrieved organ is generally six hours and within that period, its transplant must take place, so it was paramount to transport the lungs to Chennai for transplant on the patient, Dr Jadhav explained.
"After harvesting the lungs, we left D Y Patil Hospital for the Pune airport, where a chartered plane was waiting to go to Chennai. While we were on the way, our ambulance met with an accident around 5 pm on Monday, possibly due to a tyre burst," he said.
"The impact of the accident was very high as the front part of the ambulance got badly mangled after it hit a bridge railing and the oxygen cylinder got flung outside," he said.
Dr Jadhav said he suffered injuries on his head, hands and knee, while other members of his team were also hurt.
"We first rushed the driver to D Y Patil Hospital as he was also injured and engaged another vehicle of the hospital which was trailing us and reached the airport by 6 pm as transporting the organ in stipulated time was important," he recalled.
Due to quick action and commitment shown by the cardiothoracic surgeon and his team of doctors, the transplant surgery was completed successfully.
"When we reached Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, the patient was already on the operating table. By late evening, the lung transplant surgery was performed successfully. We are happy that the patient got a new lease of life due to the lung transplant," said Dr Jadhav with a sense of satisfaction.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)