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Dr Mohamed Ezani Md Taib did back-to-back surgeries |
KUALA LUMPUR: "Sleep? What’s that?" Dr Mohamed Ezani Md Taib joked when asked whether he managed to get any sleep after conducting two heart transplants in two days.
"I’m going to drop dead soon!" he laughed, though the exhaustion etched on his face was clear.
The National Heart Institute (IJN) heart and lung transplant unit clinical director was part of the 34-member team that performed the second heart transplant on 14-year-old Tee Hui Yi.
For many team members, the hospital was home for two days and nights, attesting to their commitment and dedication.
The team was mobilised when a call came in on Wednesday that a match for Tee had been found. Since then, the team has spent hours at the operating table with minimal rest.
The same drained-looking team members had worked on Tee’s first heart transplant and simultaneously performed the double-lung transplantation on a 39-year-old Sabah man with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Doctors yesterday said the man’s surgery was successful and that he appeared fine. The man is expected to start breathing on his own in a day or two.
Leading the team was chief cardiothoracic surgeon Datuk Dr Mohd Azhari Yakub. Apart from Dr Ezani, team members were cardiothoracic surgery deputy head Dr Pau Kiew Kong, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Abdul Rais Sanusi and cardiothoracic surgeons Dr Sivakumar Sivalingam, Dr Roshilla Hashim and Dr Paneer Selvam.
Anaesthesiologists involved were the institute’s deputy medical director and chief of anaesthesiology Datuk Dr Mohamed Hassan Mohd Ariff, his deputy Dr Syarifah Suraya Syed Mohd Tahir and consultant anaesthesiologists Dr Suhaini Kadiman, Dr Ariffin Marzuki Mokhtar, Dr Thiru Kumar Namasiwayam and Dr Hoe Kah Siong.
The team was assisted by four people from the Institute of Respiratory Medicine and 17 paramedics.
'It doesn't matter whose heart it is'
KUALA LUMPUR: Organ transplant transcends all barriers and this was exemplified by the case of Tee Hui Yi who received a much-awaited heart from a Malay donor.
Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said at a time when people were talking about the racial divide and fundamentalists, a Malay heart was given to save the life of a Chinese girl.
“Sometimes, we look at every issue from the perspective of race and religion.
“But when it comes to life and death, when there is a child on the operation table, it doesn’t matter whether the heart is a Muslim heart or not,” he said at the 20th Gerakan Youth and Wanita Delegates’ Conference.
An organ donor himself, Hishammuddin was moved by Hui Yi’s case, calling it “unique and touching".
“Such stories give us hope,” he said, citing it as an example of national unity.
Acting Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said Hui Yi’s case was just one example of racial integration.
“In all the hospitals in Malaysia, blood transfusions are going on every day. Have you ever asked if the blood is from a Chinese or a Malay?
“This is human blood, a lifeline and something that we take for granted.
“We need to remind ourselves that such things are happening.”
Almost two years ago, Muhammad Fikri Nor Azmi underwent a heart transplant. Now 17, Fikri is kept alive by the heart from a non-Malay donor.
Fikri, who was the country’s first mechanical heart patient, is today leading a normal life. He underwent surgery in December 2005.
This article was originally published in NST Online.
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