Indore, January 30: The heart from a 34-year-old brain dead man in Madhya Pradesh's Indore was flown to Pune in a special plane of the Indian Army on Monday to be transplanted to a soldier suffering from a heart ailment, an official said.

Pradeep Aswani, a vegetable trader from Ujjain, sustained a serious head injury in a road accident on the night of January 20 and was admitted to a private hospital in Indore for treatment, the official from Indore Society for Organ Donation said. Video: Youth Dies After Suffering Heart Attack in Swimming Pool in Maharashtra's Malegaon.

Aswani's condition did not improve and the doctors declared him brain dead, he said. The man's grief-stricken family agreed to donate his organs, following which surgeons retrieved his heart, liver, kidneys and eyes, the official said. Kerala’s First Artificial Heart Implantation Successfully Performed on 61-Year-Old Woman.

Talking to PTI, Indore's Divisional Commissioner (Revenue) Dr Pawan Kumar Sharma said that a team of Army doctors took the heart harvested from Aswani's body to Pune in a special plane and the organ will be transplanted to the soldier.

Aswani's elder sister Neelam Khushlani said, "It is a matter of great pride for our family that my late brother's heart is going to be transplanted to a soldier. I feel that (after the heart transplant) my brother will live as a soldier and serve the country."

Meanwhile, Aswani's kidneys, liver and eyes will be transplanted to needy patients in local hospitals, said Sandipan Arya, a volunteer of "Muskan Group", an organisation associated with the Indore Society for Organ Donation.

According to eyewitnesses, Aswani's body was sent for last rites from a private hospital in the city. Personnel from the Madhya Pradesh police sounded the bugle as a tribute to Aswani in the presence of local Lok Sabha MP Shankar Lalwani and doctors.