August 3, 2012 Clippings

Sister gives brother an irreplaceable Rakhi gift – one of her kidneys!

This Rakshabandhan Asha gave her brother a literally unique gift; one of her kidneys.  34 year old Asha donated one of her kidneys to her brother Sriniwas Thakur at the Asian Institute of Medical Sciences, Faridabad, on Thursday. Thakur, a resident of Faridabad, had high blood pressure for a long time and the problem was recently diagnosed as kidney failure. When doctors advised a kidney transplant, Asha offered to donate hers, said doctors.

“Both recipient and donor are doing fine and are on the road to recovery. Asha gave her elder brother a new lease of life by donating her kidney, a vital organ,” said Dr Jitender Kumar, one of the operating surgeons.

In kidney transplantation, one of the patient’s failed kidneys is replaced with a working one. In India, only relatives are allowed to donate organs. Cadaver donation is allowed but is particularly rare because very few people make the arrangement to donate their organs while alive.

Around 1.5 lakh Indians suffer from kidney failure every year. “However, only 5,000 get a transplant due to lack of available organs,” said an expert.  ”While Spain has 35.1 organ donors per million, Britain 27, USA 26, Canada 14, and Australia 11, India has only 0.08 donors per million,” the expert added.

Source: http://health.india.com

03.08.2012