In a rare life-saving mission, a Cyprus–Israel organ transplant operation successfully delivered a heart and lungs to two women in Israel, the first such procedure in 30 years.
The process began last Saturday when the director of Israel’s National Transplant Center received an urgent message from Cyprus notifying her of a donor heart and lungs. A complex operation was immediately set in motion under strict time limits, as a heart can survive only four hours outside the body.
Despite obstacles- including a vehicle breakdown during transport in Cyprus- the Cypriot police provided a helicopter to carry the organs to the airport. By 10:30 a.m., the organ retrieval was complete, and by 12:00 noon, the transplants were underway in Israel.
The heart was transplanted into a 34-year-old woman suffering from severe heart failure, while the lungs were given to a 68-year-old with advanced lung disease. Both patients are now recovering in the Thoracic Intensive Care Unit at Beilinson Hospital.
Professor of Thoracic Surgery at Rabin Medical Center highlighted the urgency of the operation: “A heart can survive outside the body for only four hours- and we made it.”
Dr Ashkenazi described the cooperation between Cyprus and Israel as exceptional, from securing government approvals to mobilising all agencies involved to save two lives.
Also read: Thousands in Cyprus live with hepatitis unknowingly
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