Pune: Another heart donation took place in the city on Thursday when relatives of a 45-year-old brain dead man donated his heart and other vital organs at Ruby Hall Clinic.The heart was transported by air from Pune to Mumbai early on Thursday morning. This is the fourth heart donation so far this year and fifth since August 2015. This is the first time that the entire exercise was carried out without a green corridor in Pune.The donor, a businessman, met with an accident on July 31. He had sustained grievous head injuries. He was rushed to Ruby Hall Clinic where he underwent emergency brain surgery. "He was responding to the treatment initially. However, his condition later worsened and he was declared brain dead five days ago," the hospital's transplant coordinator Surekha Joshi said.Upon counselling, his wife, who is also a working professional, consented to donate his vital organs. "As per the norms of the Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTCC), his heart was allocated to Mumbai-based Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital and liver was successfully transplanted into a 52-year-old farmer from the rural parts of Pune," the hospital's liver transplant physican Sheetal Dhadphale Mahajani said.Soon after the relative's consent, the hospital administration informed ZTCC co-ordinator. "Since they had a recipient who was fit enough to undergo the transplant surgery, the team of KDA doctors arrived in Pune around 1am on Thursday. They started the retrieval of the heart around 3am. They finished the retrieval by 6pm," ZTCC transplant coordinator Aarti Gokhale said.The retrieved heart was kept in medical preservation solution and transported in an ambulance to the Lohegaon Airport around 6.30 am. "They reached the airport within nine minutes. Since it was early morning, the roads were clear and they didn't need a green corridor for safe and early passage. Thereafter, the heart was flown in a chopper to Mumbai. It reached the hospital around 7.26am. The transplant surgery began thereafter," Joshi said.The donor's family resides in Khadki-Dapodi area. "The donor's family is well educated. They were aware of organ donation and its importance. The donor has a daughter who studies in Class 9," another doctor said."We are awaiting the licence for heart transplant. We have made all the requisite compliances but it is unfortunate that it is taking so long. Once in place, it will be a crucial medical service given that not a single hospital in Pune has the licence to perform heart transplants," said Bomi Bhote, chief executive officer of Ruby Hall Clinic.What is brain death?Normally, death occurs when the heart stops. But with modern technology, the heart and lungs can be made to function through mechanical support even when the brain function has completely and permanently ceased. Once brain death occurs, the person becomes a cadaver with a beating heart