Kolkata, May 21: In what is claimed to be the first human-to-human heart transplant in eastern India, surgeons in a Kolkata private hospital on Monday transplanted the heart of a 21-year-old man who died in Bengaluru a day back on a 39-year-old patient from Jharkhand.

"This operation is being performed for the first time in the eastern region. This is a very major operation, we cannot comment on the outcomes now," said a hospital official.

The heart of 21-year-old man who died on Sunday in Bengaluru was flown to Kolkata and a green corridor was created for the heart to reach the hospital from the airport.

It reached the hospital very quickly in the peak hours when the city witnesses thick traffic.

According to the hospital officials, it was a very well-coordinated effort and the heart reached the hospital in just 18 minutes through the green corridor.

"We are very thankful to the traffic police and state administration that we got the heart here in 18 minutes," said a Fortis Hospital official.

The recipient is Dilchand Singh, 39, a patient of dialectic cardio-myopathy, who needed urgent replacement. The man hailing from Jharkhand has been admitted in Fortis since last few weeks.

The blood group (A-positive) of the deceased and the recipient matched, thereby making the transplant possible.

The operation went on for almost three hours. A team of trained doctors performed the complicated surgery.

After the operation, the patient is being kept under strict vigilance and his condition will be monitored regularly for the post-operative treatment.

"The heart was harvested at 7 a.m and by 11 a.m, it was here in the hospital. The state administration has helped us in the necessary documentation and providing us the green corridor," the official said.

"It is a moment of pride for our hospital and we are very much confident of the outcome. I am very much optimistic about the success of the operation," he added.

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Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.

A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".

"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.

"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.

Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.

The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.

In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.

Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.