A 24-year-old Mumbai girl who was suffering from a rare and complex congenital heart disease received a lease of new life after she underwent a combined heart and lung transplant. Akshara Aher, a resident of Panvel, was suffering from ventricular septal defect since childhood and this defect over the years led to Eisenmenger's syndrome. Although she was managed medically for a very long time, her condition worsened of late, and she had to be put on home-based oxygen therapy. The 24-year-old underwent a combined heart and lung transplant in June 2019 and is recovering well.

The burden of patients with inoperable adult congenital heart disease and secondary pulmonary hypertension in this country is overwhelming. These individuals have a condition called Eisenmenger's syndrome. Many of them continue to turn deeply blue over time and develop secondary complications like cerebral strokes, severe right heart failure, infective endocarditis and die painful deaths after suffering immeasurably.