Artemis Hospitals unveils north India’s premier Heart & Lung Transplant Centre

New Delhi: Artemis Hospital announced the inauguration of its modern Heart & Lung Transplant Centre. Dr. Sandeep Attawar, Founder-Director and Chair of Thoracic Organ Transplants and Mechanical Circulatory Support at KIMS Hospitals, Hyderabad will oversee and Chair the centre.

This centre offers a full range of thoracic transplants and mechanical support in North India, giving people in and around Gurgaon and NCR high quality transplant care without having to travel down south.

“Artemis has always believed that advanced healthcare must be accessible and meaningful to patients. By establishing the Heart & Lung Transplant Centre in Gurgaon, we are ensuring that families in North India no longer face the hardship of traveling far for a transplant. More importantly, our mission goes beyond survival — it is about restoring dignity, hope, and quality of life.” Said Mr. Onkar S. Kanwar, Chairman, Artemis Hospitals

Present at the event Dr. Devlina Chakravarty, Managing Director, Artemis Hospitals said “Artemis Hospital is pleased to bring this level of transplant expertise to North India, we believe this centre will become a lifeline for patients from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi NCR and surrounding states who would otherwise have to travel far to access quality heart and lung transplant care.”

Patients in North and Northwest India who needed heart or lung transplants had to travel a long way to get to centres in Southern India until now. The new Artemis Heart Lung Transplant Centre makes it easier to get expert care by cutting down on travel, costs, and follow-up issues. It is unique in that it lets patients register in two states at once, which makes it easier for donors to find them and increases the chances of getting a transplant in time.

“Until now, many patients in North India facing end stage heart or lung disease had few local options,” said Dr Sandeep Attawar. “At Artemis Hospital we will combine a full transplant programme with the logistical, geographical and institutional advantages of Gurgaon’s proximity and inclusion in the National Capital region, which facilitates logistics thus reducing travel delays and improving outcomes.

Dr. Sandeep Attawar has decades of experience setting up and running heart and lung transplant programmes all over India. His team at KIMS Hyderabad has done more than 650 thoracic organ transplants, including about 479 double-lung transplants, 127 heart transplants, and 58 combined heart-lung transplants. They have also done 58 LVAD implants. His leadership and active role at national and global transplant platforms societies puts the new centre in a stewardship position to create awareness and lead in transplant outcomes in the region.

India has made steady progress in thoracic transplants over the past few decades. The Indian Heart and Lung Transplant Registry had recorded about 1,328 heart transplants and 475 lung transplants by March 2023. More than 70 approved centres across the country helped with these transplants.

In 2023 alone there were 231 heart and lung transplants with 129 lung and 102 hearts. The numbers for 2024 are only expected to be more. Heart transplant recipients have a one-year survival upward of 85%, and lung transplant survival of 85%. Northern India has done well in living donor programmes indicating the existence of infrastructure but deceased donations are yet to climb up to the level as in southern and western India.

The Artemis Heart & Lung Transplant Centre has a full range of advanced services, such as heart, lung, and heart-lung transplants. It offers mechanical circulatory support like ECMO and LVAD devices, either as a temporary solution until a transplant can be done or as a long-term treatment. Patients get full care, starting with a pre-transplant evaluation for advanced heart failure and terminal lung disease, followed up by their transplant and post-transplant journey including monitoring, evaluation and rehabilitation enabling a smooth life after transplant.

The centre also helps with multi-state transplant listings, patient and family education and 24/7 co-ordination. It wants to leave a mark by doing double digit transplants in its very first year to become North India’s top regional hub, offering a local option with global standards and results.