A displaced woman, the first in Colombia to have a heart transplanted in a public hospital

The General Hospital of Medellín (HGM) marked a new and significant milestone in the history of Colombian public health by successfully performing the first heart transplant in a 100% public and decentralized institution in the country. Mayor Federico Gutiérrez Zuluaga highlighted the procedure as an example of the city’s medical and scientific leadership.

The intervention was carried out on a 59-year-old patient, resident in Medellín and originally from Chocó, who was affiliated with the subsidized regime and suffered from terminal heart failure. The heart was obtained from an in-hospital donor at the same HGM, in an operation that required maximum precision and synchrony from the surgical teams. The patient is recovering favorably in the Intensive Care Unit.

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Access to Highest Quality Health for the Most Vulnerable

Mayor Federico Gutiérrez emphasized that this achievement demonstrates that quality and excellence should not be exclusive to the private sector. «This means that a public hospital and all healthcare in Colombia can be of the highest quality and can be excellent. This is milestone news. […] for public health,” said Gutiérrez.

The president also highlighted the social impact of the operation, especially for the patient, who was vulnerable and a victim of displacement. «Her critical condition, not only in medical but economic condition, which made it very unfeasible, surely for her, to be able to stay alive… it cannot be synonymous in Colombia that only a person who has money […] can access a heart donation,” he pointed out.

The HGM, whose capacity in high complexity has been strengthened by its Health Accreditation, has managed to rescue a total of 22 hearts that have benefited patients in Medellín, Cali and Bucaramanga. With this procedure, carried out 40 years after the first heart transplant in Colombia, the General Hospital opens new opportunities for access to highly complex treatments for patients in the subsidized regime.