Life saved in 21 minutes: Chennai Metro transports donor lung for urgent transplant

Chennai: Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) successfully transported a life-saving donor lung from Meenambakkam Metro Station to AG-DMS Metro Station in just 21 minutes on November 8, 2025. This swift transportation was made possible due to recent amendments in the Metro Railways (Carriage and Ticket) Amendment Rules, 2023, following guidelines from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

The organ consignment team arrived from Bengaluru by air ambulance at Chennai airport and reached Meenambakkam Metro Station at 2:07 pm. With coordination from Chennai Metro officials and station staff, the team boarded the metro and reached AG-DMS Metro Station by 2:28 pm, covering seven stations. The medical team then quickly proceeded by ambulance to Apollo Hospital, Greams Road, where the lung transplant was scheduled.

BJP leader and former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan praised the central government’s ‘One Nation One Organ’ policy, which facilitates organ sharing across states, and congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with doctors from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, for enabling this cross-border organ transport under the Transportation of Human Organs Tissues Act.

With inputs from PTI