For the first time, the Chennai Metro Rail turned into a “green corridor” on Saturday and helped transport a pair of lungs harvested from a deceased donor in Bengaluru to Apollo Hospitals on Greams Road for transplantation. In 21 minutes, the lungs were transported from the Meenambakkam Metro to AG-DMS Metro, covering 10.82 km across seven stations.
Airport sources said a pair of lungs and a heart were brought through air ambulance from Bengaluru, and landed at the airport at 1.52 p.m. Subsequently, a six-member team carried the lungs in a vehicle via the VIP gate (located in Meenambakkam) to the Meenambakkam Metro at 2.04 p.m. and boarded the train at 2.07 p.m. At 2.28 p.m., they reached the AG-DMS Metro and left in an ambulance to Apollo Hospitals. Simultaneously, a “green corridor” from the airport was created on the road, and the heart was transported to MGM Healthcare in an ambulance.
According to officials of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited, they made sure the process was smooth. “The team travelled with the package along with the other passengers. Being a weekend, there were fewer people on the train. We coordinated in both the origin and destination stations,” a staff member said.
