Chennai's Fortis Malar hospital had carried out a 'green corridor operation' earlier.

Green corridors to facilitate organ transport used to be a phenomenon that happens in foreign countries. But not any more. Today, a heart was sent from Bangalore to Chennai in record time - thanks to green corridors on both sides.The result: An upto 7-hour journey - including airport formalities and flight time - was completed in just 2 hours and seven minutes.For Bangalore, it was a first. Two months ago, Chennai had already come to a halt to facilitate the transport of a heart. The recipient hospital in question was the same - the Fortis Malar in Adyar.But today, given the distance, the time factor was crucial, explained Dr N K Venkataramana, vice president of Bangalore's BGS Hospital. "A human heart can be preserved for only 7 hours if stored well".Obviously, special help was essential. So right after he got a call from Fortis this morning, Dr Venkataramana called the cops."I sought help from traffic police to provide us with a green corridor," he said. And the procedure went without a hitch. "The traffic police arranged for everything."The heart reached the airport in 40 minutes, instead of the usual one-and-a-half hours. The hospitals' technical teams coordinated throughout the transportation.At the other end, the Fortis authorities and the Chennai police had things well under control. In June, the hospital did a green corridor transplant, where a heart was brought in from the city's Government General Hospital 12 km away.Today, a green corridor formed on a 13-km stretch from the Chennai airport to Fortis. The journey took just 7 minutes.

Sources in Fortis told NDTV the transplant was carried out successfully.