The transplant surgery was conducted at the General Hospital after the heart was flown in from Thiruvananthapuram, where the donor, S Shibu, 46, was declared brain dead following a road accident.
Published Dec 23, 2025 | 9:16 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 23, 2025 | 9:16 AM
General Hospital in Ernakulam, Kerala, scripted history as the first district-level government hospital in India to transplant a heart.
Synopsis: The recipient, Durga Kami aka Arpana, has been suffering from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, caused by a genetic disorder called Danon disease. The 22-year-old woman, who had lost her mother and sister to the same illness, has been staying in an orphanage. Her father had died earlier.
Multiple agencies, including the Kerala High Court, came together to give a fresh lease of life to a Nepali woman. In the process, the General Hospital in Ernakulam scripted history as the first district-level government hospital in India to transplant a heart.
The transplant surgery was conducted at the General Hospital after the heart was flown in from Thiruvananthapuram, where the donor, S Shibu, 46, was declared brain dead following a road accident.
The recipient, Durga Kami aka Arpana, has been suffering from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, caused by a genetic disorder called Danon disease. The 22-year-old woman, who had lost her mother and sister to the same illness, has been staying in an orphanage. Her father had died earlier.
Kami has been undergoing treatment in India for more than a year. However, being a foreign citizen, she was not on the priority list for receiving an organ.
However, with the court’s special permission and the support of the Kerala government, she was brought to the state for treatment.
The health department said that Health Minister Veena George personally coordinated the complex multi-organ transplant process, with the heart being transported to Kochi in a helicopter.
The chopper landed at the Grand Hyatt, from where an ambulance took the organ to the hospital through a green corridor. The police prepared the corridor on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s instructions. The district administration and the Medical Education department also worked in close coordination to transport the organ,
Shibu had met with the accident on 14 December at Mookatkunnu in Kollam while riding a scooter home from Kazhakkoottam in Thiruvananthapuram, where he worked in a hotel.
He was first admitted to Parippally Government Medical College and later shifted to Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College for specialised treatment.
The doctors in Thiruvananthapuram declared him dead on Sunday, 21 December. His family consented to donate his organs.
One kidney was transplanted at Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College and another at the Travancore Medical College, Kollam.
His liver was transplanted at KIMS Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, two corneas were donated to the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, and his skin was donated to the skin bank at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College.
Chief Minister Vijayan hailed the achievement as a proud moment for Kerala, congratulating the Ernakulam General Hospital team and expressing deep gratitude to Shibu’s family, including his mother Shakuntala and sisters Shiji S and Saliv S, for their selfless decision that will be remembered with pride.
The Ernakulam General Hospital had conducted an open-heart surgery in 2021.
