Nepal national Durga Kami, who underwent a heart transplant on Monday (December 22, 2025) at the General Hospital (GH), Ernakulam, is recovering with ventilator support. According to doctors, the 72 hours post-surgery is critical.
“The heart was not rejected, which has brought much-needed reassurance. One of the challenges we are facing is right ventricular dysfunction in the donor heart. This is a known and accepted occurrence. Given that the donor spent several days on ventilator support, some degree of organ-related comorbidity is expected. However, this is expected to improve with time,” said GH superintendent Dr. Shahirsha R. Ms. Kami received the heart following a judicial intervention.
By performing its first-ever heart transplant, the Ernakulam GH became the first district hospital in the government sector in the country to carry out such a surgery, according to the authorities.
Dr. Shajan Varghese, chief medical officer at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Kothamangalam, who was instrumental in Ms. Kami’s journey to India for treatment, said Ms. Kami is on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) support, a treatment that functions as an artificial heart-lung machine. ECMO support is being provided as it will take some time for the heart to function fully, he added.
The 22-year-old woman received the heart from 46-year-old S. Shibu, a Kollam native who was declared brain-dead at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. An eight-member team of doctors from the GH, including Dr. George Valuran, Dr. Paul Thomas, and Dr. Geo Paul, participated in the surgery.
Published – December 23, 2025 10:23 pm IST
