New Delhi, Aug 23 (IANS): The first successful heart transplant operation has been performed at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital in the national capital, giving a new lease of life to a 32-year-old woman.

Laxmi Devi from Bhagalpur in Bihar was diagnosed with terminal heart failure following childbirth after which she was suffering from severe breathlessness.

A team of cardiologists led by Ranjith Nath and Praveen Agarwal had advised a heart transplant following which she was registered with the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) for the operation at the earliest availability of a donor heart.

The donor was found in a young girl named Basu, who met with an accident on August 15 and was admitted to PGI Chandigarh with severe head injury. She was declared brain dead on August 20, and was kept on a ventilator to sustain her organs.

After counseling by the transplant coordinator at PGI Chandigarh, her father, Ajo Manji, a daily wage labourer, agreed to donate her organs.

On the morning of August 21, NOTTO released an alert about the availability of a donor heart. A team of cardiac surgeons from the RML Hospital and AIIMS led by Narender Singh Jhajhria reached PGI Chandigarh the same evening and harvested the donor heart, which was flown to Delhi within two hours.

On Monday night, a team led by Vijay Grover and comprising Milind Hote, Narender Jhajhria, Palash Aiyer and anesthetists Ramesh Kashev and Jaswinder performed the heart transplant operation on Laxmi Devi at the RML Hospital.

Basu's kidneys, corneas, liver and pancreas were also donated, giving a new lease of life to five other persons.