KOCHI: Braving controversies, a rented helicopter of Kerala police touched down on a privtae helipad in Kochi with a throbbing heart, ready for transplant.

As expected, the helicopter landed on Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgattty helipad at 3:50 pm on Saturday. After that, everything happened at lightning speed.

The health workers and police who were waiting there received the heart and walked briskly into the ambulance. Now, within four minutes the ambulance reached Lissie hospital.

Immediately, the surgery started as the hospital had done all preparation for that much earlier.

Kochi Police Commissioner Vijay Sakhare directly helmed the logistical operation of the police. This was Kerala Police’ first mission in its rented helicopter for a life-saving cause.

Amid the coronavirus lockdown, when there are major restrictions on traffic at district borders, the state government had decided to use the chopper as an air ambulance free-of-cost to transport the vital organ.

The heart donor is a 50-year-old brain-dead woman in Thiruvananthapuram. The recepient is a middle-aged woman. The surgical removal of the heart was done at the KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram earlier.

The organ was then taken in an ambulance from the hospital to the city’s international airport where the chopper was parked.

The helicopter then made the live-saving journey from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi and landed on the helipad at the Hyatt hotel in Kochi.

The helicopter was rented by the Kerala Police earlier this year from Pawan Hans for a monthly tariff of Rs 1.44 crore to be used in its anti-Maoist operations and during natural disasters. The government’s decision had been strongly criticised by the Opposition, saying it was government’s extravaganza during hard times.