CHENNAI: When it's more common to read reports of people losing their lives because of their inability to reach the hospital on time because of VIP traffic restrictions, here is a heart-warming story of traffic coming to a halt in Chennai to save the life of an ordinary patient.On Monday, life in the heart of Chennai came to a halt on Monday to save a life. In a textbook example of precise coordination between surgeons of two hospitals and the city traffic police, a medical team transported a heart from Government General Hospital to Fortis Malar Hospitals in Adyar, about 12km away, in less than 14 minutes by creating a "green corridor" – that is, red-light free access."As soon as the heart was brought, the transplant began. By 10.15pm, the heart was beating in the patient's chest," said Dr Suresh Rao, chief anesthetist at Fortis Malar.For those unfamiliar with Chennai, it's important to know that the road connecting the two hospitals is a key arterial road, usually carrying heavy traffic. That the police, doctors and the ordinary people cooperated to block it off for saving a life is obviously a great gesture by a city with a big heart.The ambulance carrying the heart, harvested from a 27-year-old man who died in a traffic accident and preserved in a special container at 4 degrees Celsius, started from Government hospital at 6.44pm and reached Fortis Malar 13 minutes and 22 seconds later, at 6.57pm. Normally, a vehicle takes 45 minutes to cover the stretch at peak hour.At the private hospital, the parents of Hvovi Minocherchomji's, a 21-year-old BCom student from Mumbai, received the heart – the mother in tears, the father with a prayer on his lips.Malar surgeons immediately got to the job of transplanting the organ on the recipient who was kept ready. Through the day, the teams of doctors at the two hospitals had been keeping each other informed about the condition of the donor and the recipient. The liver and kidneys went to other hospitals.Malar got a call as early as 5.45am on Monday that a brain-dead patient may be taken off the ventilator in a few hours and that a heart, a liver and kidneys would be available for donation. The Mumbai woman turned out to be luckier than five others awaiting a heart transplant, as the donor's blood group and body weight matched only with hers among the other patients.Almost simultaneously, Karunasagar, the additional commissioner of police (traffic) was informed about the need to transport the organ. By afternoon, the traffic police were ready to create the green corridor, most of it along the Beach Road and Santhome High Road, two of the busiest stretches in the evening.After formalities, GH surgeons informed their counterparts in Malar that they would start harvesting the donor's heart by 5.30pm, after the liver and kidneys were taken out. Around the same time, the Malar team started preparing the recipient. The special container with the heart surrounded by a perfusion fluid and ice in separate sachets was put in the ambulance at 6.40pm.A human heart can be preserved for up to four hours, but experts say the earlier the transplant, the higher the chances of success.Now it was for the traffic police to ensure a safe and speedy passage for the organ. C Kathir, a seasoned ambulance driver, was chosen for the mission. Deputy commissioner Sivanandan had charted the route the ambulance would take. By 3pm, he had in place 26 of his men at the 12 intersections the ambulance was to pass. As the vehicle passed each signal – touching 100kmph at times – a pilot radioed in the location to the control room as also the police teams along the corridor."It was a smooth operation but for a minor bottleneck at Muthusamy Road where the ambulance had to take a wrong way to evade a blocking MTC bus," said M Selvaraj, the pilot.Dr Suresh Rao, chief anaesthetist at Malar Hospitals said the transplant would take at least four hours. "As of now everything has worked fine," he said. Karunasagar said the city traffic police have proved repeatedly their mettle in creating green corridors without affecting normal life on the roads.