the country's first bilateral lung transplant was performed at the Madras Medical Mission (mmm) in Chennai, on April 26. Experts hailed the nine hour long operation as unique and the "first of its kind in Asia". Besides, the 27-year-old Sri Lankan recipient, who has his heart on the right side of the chest, underwent a cardiac surgery as well. He was also suffering from "Eisenmengers syndrome", a disease indicated by very high lung pressure. All the transplantable organs of the donor - a 28-year-old accident victim - except the liver, were transplanted.

K M Cherian, who headed the surgical team at the mmm for the heart and lung transplants, said that the transplantation was one of the few recorded cases in the world. The donor organs were received by people cutting across geographical borders.A patient from Malaysia received the heart, while one of the kidneys went to a Nepalese national.