For the first time in Kerala, a team of surgeons has successfully conducted a combined heart and double lung transplant.

Relatives of 19-year-old Nithin, who was declared brain-dead on January 5, decided to donate his organs and the complicated transplant was performed on January 6.

The rare multi-organ transplant was performed on Jenisha Varghese (26) of Kuttambuzha in Ernakulam, who had been suffering from a congenital heart disease.

The transplant held at Lisie Hospital, was conducted by a 12-member team headed by Jose Chacko Periappuram. It took around three hours to harvest the organ and around seven hours to implant them.

Nithin who had met with an accident, was admitted in Alappuzha Medical College and was later shifted to Kochi Lakeshore hospital, where he was declared brain dead.

Jenisha who had been on the waiting list of the Kerala Network of Organ Sharing (KNOS) group, was in need of heart and both lungs immediately.

A surgery of this kind has taken place only about 15 to 20 times in the country.

Cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon Dr Jose Chacko Periappuram told media that it was lucky that Jenisha got the donor after one year’s wait, as transplant was the only option left for her to survive.

The surgery cost around  Rs 15-20 lakh and the first year after the transplant, the patient will require at least Rs 25,000 for medicines.