Kochi: Girl who underwent heart, lungs transplantation dies of infection

A 22-year-old Kerala girl who had undergone a complicated heart and lungs transplantation surgery at a super-speciality hospital in Chennai nine months ago, died on Monday at a private hospital in Kochi after she developed infection to her blood and internal organs.

Health condition of Ambily Fathima, a Post Graduate student at CMS College in Kochi, had generated lot of sensation in Kerala after it was reported by a section of media. Fathima was diagnosed with a hole in her heart when she was just two-year-old. This condition had affected pure blood flow required for lungs. She had underwent an 11-hour-long rare surgery in August last year for transplantation of vital organs received from a brain dead patient in Chennai.

Following the media reports about her health condition, students in colleges affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University had generated a fund of around Rs 25 lakh to help her father Basheer, a private sector employee, to meet the huge hospital expense required for the surgery. She had to undergo another surgery a month later at the Chennai hospital after she developed infection to her internal organs.

Fathima was admitted to Caritas Hospital near Kochi last week following high fever and breathing problem. Fathima, who was shifted to ICU, died this morning after her condition got worsened due to infection to her internal organs, hospital sources said.