Mumbai NGO helps families find kidney donors

Paramjeet Singh, 37, from Faridabad and and Gurnam Singh, 62, from Thane, now have a unique connection thanks to the kidneys transplants that both of them got. After searching all over India for donors willing to swap kidneys, the two families were brought together a month back by an NGO, Narmada Kidney Foundation.

“This is the only option left for people who cannot find donors with the same blood group in their family,” said Dr Bharat Shah, nephrologist with Leelavati hospital, who is monitoring their health.

Paramjeet, a chartered accountant from Gurgaon, has been on dialysis three times a week, after his kidneys failed two-and-a-half years ago. “I was searching for a donor and then my sister registered us with Narmada,” said Paramjeet. In a kidney swap, one is required to find a healthy donor from their family. For Paramjeet his aunt, Jaspal, 56, was ready to be a part of the switch.

Gurmeet from Thane ran a transport business before he was stricken by renal failure. Like Paramjeet’s family, he did not have a donor in the family, but his wife, Kuldeep, 54, was willing to swap her kidney with a donor.

Both patients obtained mandatory permissions under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act. As per the Act, kidney donors can be the patient’s spouse or a blood relative. If the donor and recipient are not related, exceptions are made but only with the sanction of the ethical committee and the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER).

Jaspal donated her kidney to Gurmeet while Kuldeep gave her kidney to Paramjeet. Surgeries were performed last Thursday and the women discharged on Wednesday.