Bengaluru: Woman Cancels Engagement To Donate Kidney To Her Mother

A 25-year-old Bangladesh-origin woman in Bengaluru cancelled her engagement and donated one of her kidneys to her mother defying the opposition from her fiancé.

City doctors said that this was a very rare case as unmarried women do not often donate their organs, fearing the consequence of it on their marriage prospects. In fact, doctors themselves are hesitant to take up such cases as it could become a hurdle to the patient’s life in the future.

In this case reported at Manipal Hospitals on Old Airport Road, Bengaluru, only after the July 21 surgery, the nephrologists and transplant surgeons realized that the woman cancelled her engagement.

A Rare Case

“I usually hesitate to accept single women as organ donors since donation can affect their prospects for marriage. I may sound chauvinist, but I always think that if the girl were my daughter, what would I do. I reluctantly accepted her as a donor, as she was motivated and insistent. Fortunately, everything went well, and both are fine. I met the girl’s father and told him he was lucky to have such a wonderful daughter,” The Times Of India quoted Dr Sankaran Sundar, a nephrologist at Manipal Hospitals as saying.

The woman’s father noted that while his native country is headed by a woman (Sheikh Hasina), his family was often ridiculed because they had two daughters. However, ultimately one of the daughters only saved his family.

In a closed social media group of doctors and organ recipients, this case was widely discussed, with various members backing the doctors’ reluctance in taking up such cases.

“There are serious concerns in society about unmarried women donating organs even though it is medically not contraindicated. Also, in case of married women, their husbands or in-laws tend to object to the donation because of unfounded fears of infertility,” said Dr H Sudarshan Ballal, nephrologist and chairman, Manipal Hospitals.

He added that this woman’s courage and conviction are worthy of appreciation.

The presence of women in live kidney donations is quite lopsided. While they outnumber men when it comes to donating kidneys, very few of them receive kidneys. A hospital in Bengaluru performed 86 kidney transplants live during 2018. The hospital nephrologists observed that women comprised 66% of donors and between 20% and 30% of recipients.

Also Read: This App Connected Two Families Seeking Kidney Donors From Miles Away