Ernakulam: In what is being considered a watershed moment for India’s public healthcare, the Ernakulam General Hospital (GH) in Kerala, performed a heart transplant on a woman from Nepal on Monday.
According to officials who spoke to The New Indian Express on the subject, this marks the first time a district-level government hospital in the country has undertaken such a complex procedures.
The recipient has been identified as Durga Kaami, a 22-year-old woman from Nepal, while the donor is Shibu (46), a resident of Kollam in Kerala. He was declared brain dead on December 21 after a road accident.
His heart was airlifted from the Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College and reached Ernakulum by noon, after Shibu’s family, including mother Shakunthala and siblings Shiji S and Saleev S consented to organ donation.
Officials told the newspaper that the surgery was led by Ernakulam GH’s cardiothoracic surgeon Dr George Vallooran.
Durga, who suffered from a rare genetic heart condition since childhood, was under the care of cardiologist Dr Paul Thomas at the hospital. The procedure was completed by evening, and Durga was shifted to the ICU.
The development has set a new benchmark for district hospitals across the country, highlighting Kerala’s advances in organ transplantation and equitable healthcare access, officials said.
“This is a proud moment not just for the hospital, but for the entire public health system,” a source at the hospital has been quoted as saying.
It has been a long fight for Durga, who lost her mother and sister to the same ailment she suffers from. Her family had registered with the Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (K-SOTTO) eight months ago, but she was initially excluded from the priority list for organ allocation as she is not an Indian citizen.
“Her family then moved the Kerala High Court. Based on the court’s order in November, Durga was included in the list,” said Dr Shahirshah, superintendent of Ernakulam GH.
Durga was staying at an orphanage with her brother. Owing to the high medical expenses in Nepal, the siblings came to Kerala for her treatment with the support of a Keralite who runs the orphanage.
Shibu, meanwhile, not only donated his heart, but also his kidneys, liver, corneas and skin. While one of his kidneys was transplanted at Thiruvananthapuram GMC, the other one was sent to Kollam Travancore Medical College.
His liver was donated to Thiruvananthapuram KIMS Hospital, while two corneas were given to patients at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology. In addition, Shibu’s skin was handed over to the Skin Bank at Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College.
Shibu worked at a hotel in Kazhakkoottam and suffered serious injuries in an accident on December 14 at Mookattukunnu in Kollam.
Kerala health minister Veena George expressed gratitude to Shibu’s family for their decision to donate organs despite their grief and conveyed her condolences.
This was the 22nd cadaver donation coordinated by K-SOTTO in 2025, the highest in nine years.
