Consultant - Heart & Lung Transplant and Vascular Surgery, Artemis Hospitals, Gurgaon
Part 9 of 10 in Masterclass on Heart Transplant in India for Foreign Nationals
The Next Generation of Heart Pumps: Jarvik, HeartMate 3, and an Indian LVAD in Development
August 27, 2026
For adults, the HeartMate 3 is currently the standard long-term implantable device. Paediatric patients need a different answer, and the device landscape for both groups is shifting faster than most referring doctors outside India would know.
A smaller pump for smaller patients
For children and adolescents, typically those with a congenital heart defect that has caused intractable heart failure, the team's answer is the Jarvik 2000, a smaller palm-sized pump built to support patients with a body surface area of around 1.5 square metres. It is also considerably cheaper than the adult device, priced around $20,000 to $25,000, against close to $100,000 for a HeartMate 3.
A new generation already in the pipeline
Jarvik itself is developing a magnetically levitated, third-generation version of its pump and had, as of this session, applied for FDA approval in early June of that year. Separately, Dr. Purkayastha's own team has been developing an indigenous LVAD in collaboration with an Australian firm and the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur. That device had just completed its second phase of human trials the month before the session, with what he described as very encouraging results discussed internally.
Why this matters for cost, not just access
Dr. Purkayastha suggested CE approval for the indigenous device could arrive as early as late 2026, with FDA approval to follow. If it does, he expects it to make long-term VAD therapy available at less than half of current cost, since imported American-manufactured devices currently carry a 100% import duty on top of the device price itself. For a foreign family weighing a VAD purely against a transplant on cost grounds, that is a meaningful shift still a few years out rather than an option available today.
This guide is based on a live Jivo Masterclass — Dr. Biswarup Purkayastha taught doctors across Africa on October 5, 2025.
FROM THE LIVE Q&A
Dr. Oronana Paul Edugbo, Nigeria
How can we be confident that a patient we refer will actually get a matching organ once they reach India?
Dr. Biswarup Purkayastha
There's no absolute guarantee, but our programme gives a referred patient the best realistic odds in the country. My team has presence across the north through Artemis in Delhi, the south through Kims and Aster hospitals in Bangalore, and the west through KD Hospital in Ahmedabad and a Mumbai centre, which puts us in direct reach of three of India's five active regional transplant organisations. We're also the only team doing hypothermic oxygenated perfusion, which extends a donor heart's viable cold storage time from about four hours to eight to ten hours and widens the geography we can pull an organ from. Matching still depends heavily on the patient: blood group, a height in the 160 to 180 cm range, and a weight in the 70 to 90 kg range, because we can only accept a heart within about 10% of body surface area or 10 cm of height. The longest wait I've seen a foreign heart transplant patient go through is 12 to 14 months. Of the 20 to 25 foreign patients we've transplanted over the last five to six years, all but two eventually received a heart.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the actual median waiting period once a foreign patient is listed?▼
About a year, not more than that, once a foreign national is properly listed.
How many days does LVAD admission and workup actually take?▼
Roughly a week for the core workup. That includes a right heart catheterisation, with the numbers reviewed at a transplant or VAD meeting or heart failure clinic before we make a call. To meet regulatory requirements we also need a coronary angiogram and a CT scan of the chest, which sizes the device and the pocket it sits in.
What are the financial and logistical implications of staying in India while waiting for a transplant?▼
A heart failure patient waiting here typically needs a hospital visit about once a fortnight, and hospital and medication expenses run close to $1,500 a month. Across a typical 12 to 14 month wait, that adds up to roughly $20,000 in pre-transplant costs, before the transplant itself.
What does the heart transplant surgery itself cost a foreign national, given the added legal requirements?▼
Just under $50,000 in total. Our package for a foreign national is $45,000 for the transplant plus $5,500 for the pre-transplant workup.
What factors would disqualify a patient from LVAD candidacy, so we can screen locally and avoid sending someone to India who won't qualify?▼
The single most important test is a right heart catheterisation. I want pulmonary vascular resistance under five Wood units, or at least reactive to pulmonary vasodilators, along with the transpulmonary gradient, the pulmonary arterial pressure index against body surface area, and the oxygen step up. Patients with intractable arrhythmias, or more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation with right heart failure symptoms like congestive hepatopathy, are not good candidates. But if the right heart is intact and the failure is confined to the left side from ischaemic disease, that patient is still a strong candidate for an LVAD.
What device does the team use for paediatric heart failure patients?▼
The Jarvik 2000, a smaller palm-sized pump built to support patients with a body surface area of around 1.5 square metres, typically children and adolescents with a congenital heart defect causing intractable heart failure.
Is a new generation of the Jarvik pump in development?▼
Yes. Jarvik is developing a magnetically levitated, third-generation version of its pump and had applied for FDA approval in early June of the year the masterclass was held.
What is the status of the team's own indigenous LVAD?▼
It had just completed its second phase of human trials the month before the masterclass, developed in collaboration with an Australian firm and the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, with encouraging results discussed internally.
Why does India's import duty on LVADs matter for cost?▼
Imported American-manufactured devices currently carry a 100% import duty on top of the device price itself, which is part of why an indigenous device, if approved, is expected to make long-term VAD therapy available at less than half of current cost.
In This Series: Masterclass on Heart Transplant in India for Foreign Nationals
- 1.Heart Transplant in India for Foreign Nationals
- 2.How India Allocates Donor Hearts to Foreign Nationals
- 3.From Medication to Transplant: The Heart Failure Treatment Ladder
- 4.Three Ways an LVAD Buys Time: Bridge to Transplant, Bridge to Candidacy, and Destination Therapy
- 5.Matching a Foreign Patient to a Donor Heart: What Actually Determines the Wait
- 6.What a Heart Transplant Actually Costs a Foreign Patient in India
- 7.When to Refer: Recognising the Point of No Return in Heart Failure
- 8.Staying Alive on the List: Bridging a Foreign Patient Through a Year-Long Wait
- 9.The Next Generation of Heart Pumps: Jarvik, HeartMate 3, and an Indian LVAD in Development
- 10.LVAD Candidacy Criteria: What Referring Doctors Should Test For Before Sending a Patient to India