In a heart-warming gesture, a young unmarried 26-year-old girl from Bangladesh donated one of her kidneys to her ailing mother who was suffering from End Stage Kidney Disease. She cancelled her engagement after her fiancé opposed her decision.
When the treating nephrologist Sanakran Sundar at Manipal Hospitals came across the donor, the daughter of Shika Rani, he was in a dilemma as the girl was unmarried. After multiple counselling sessions, her decision to be the donor was finally accepted.
“This is a very rare case as it is uncommon for women to be the recipients. On the other hand they outnumber men when it comes to donating organs. Normally, we discourage unmarried young women from donating organs as this may or may not hamper their future depending on their health conditions. However, this case was an exception. We were surprised to see a strong willed young girl who was determined to save her mother at any cost,” said Dr. Sundar.
Speaking on the occasion Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Hospitals said: “Unfortunately there are serious concerns and bias in our society towards unmarried women becoming a donor despite the fact that it is not medically contraindicated.”
Pointing out that there is a huge gender disparity towards women recipients, he said even when a married woman decides to become a live donor, families often have objections, as there are some myths associated with organ donation. “Many people do believe that it may lead to infertility,” he said.
Until last year, the rate of organ donation in India used to be 0.5 per million population, but today it has gone up to 0.8, which is steady progress. Despite this, we are still far away from other countries like Spain, USA, China, Germany, Australia and Brazil who are way ahead when it comes to organ donation, he added.
