These women, sometimes under pressure, sometimes out of love for their men donate their kidneys.
On World Kidney Day, which coincides with the International Women’s Day, doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) reveal that more than the two-thirds of the living kidney donors at the hospital are women.
These women, sometimes under pressure, sometimes out of love for their men donate their kidneys.
Ritu Yadav, 23, came forward to donate one of her kidneys to her husband, who has to undergo a transplant. But when questioned in secrecy, she revealed that she was being pressured by the husband’s family to donate the organ.
The doctors had to refuse her as a donor candidate on medical grounds. In some cases, men are getting married after they are diagnosed with renal failure.
“We take all necessary steps to ensure that there is no pressure from the family and it is a ‘voluntary’ donation, but that is how the society works here. This is the case not just in Delhi, but all across the country that women are the ones donating more than men,” says Dr Dipankar Bhowmik, Professor of Nephrology, AIIMS.
The condition for women donors worsened when in 1994 the government passed ‘Transplantation of human organ and tissue Act’, under which, a near-relative i.e, a spouse can donate kidneys. Earlier, only blood-related family members could donate kidneys.
Doctors also revealed that while 70 percent of the kidney donors are women, only less than one-third receive kidneys when needed.
Men do not come forward as much as women to donate their organs to their women counterparts.
In India, about 2.5 lakh people require kidney transplant every year. But only about 10,000 get it because of the scarcity of donors. Most of the kidneys are retrieved from living donors.
In case of the heart, the crisis is even more acute. While 50,000 people suffering from end-stage heart disease require a new organ, only about 30 to 40 are able to get it.
DONOR SCARCITY
- In India, about 2.5 lakh people require kidney transplant every year. But only about 10,000 get it because of scarcity of donors. Most kidneys are retrieved from living donors.
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