Amaravati: 

47-year-old Cherukuri Sushma, a housewife from Guntur, was admitted to Aster Ramesh Hospital on June 23 after she complained of a severe headache. She was discharged on Wednesday after treatment. The doctors informed the Jeevandan Trust, who spoke to Sushma's family members and convinced them to donate her organs. The heart, kidneys, liver, and lungs were donated to hospitals in Guntur, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Chennai.

Andhra Pradesh Education Minister Nara Lokesh came up with a novel initiative. Lokesh arranged a special flight at his own cost to transport the heart collected from a brain-dead woman in Guntur to Tirupati and ensured that it reached the hospital on time. The doctors decided to airlift the organs to hospitals in Tirupati and Chennai. The Andhra Pradesh government set up a green channel on the road from Guntur to Gannavaram airport in Vijayawada. The heart was first taken in a special ambulance at 7.50 pm on Thursday with the help of a police escort.

The heart was transported to Renigunta Airport in Tirupati in a special flight arranged by Nara Lokesh from Gannavaram Airport. A green channel was created up to Gannavaram airport in another special ambulance to transport the lungs to the Chennai hospital. While one kidney and liver were given to Aster Ramesh Hospital, the other kidney was taken to another corporate hospital in Vijayawada.

Andhra Pradesh Speaker Ayyanna Patrudu congratulated Nara Lokesh. "Minister Lokesh has been an inspiration to many by arranging a green channel and arranging a special plane at his own cost to transport the brain-dead woman's heart from Guntur to Tirupati and implant it there," Ayyanna Patrudu said in a post on 'X'. "Congratulations to Lokesh for responding quickly to a message and saving someone's life," the AP Assembly Speaker added.

Nara Lokesh, who knows that a heart patient undergoing treatment at a hospital in Tirupati belongs to a poor family, had earlier suggested to the Jeevandan Trust that the heart should be implanted through organ donation. When Ramesh Hospital authorities came to know that there was no flight to Tirupati at that time, they informed Lokesh that it would be evening when they would collect the heart from Sushma's body. In response, he spoke to his department officials and made arrangements to be shifted in a special flight.

Sushma has two daughters, Tejaswini and Vaishu. They are studying B.Tech and Intermediate. Her husband, Cherukuri Srinivasa Rao, is an insurance agent. They thanked Minister Lokesh for taking the initiative to shift their mother's organs through the Green Channel.

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