Man survives with five kidneys

A 33-year-old resident of Punjab has five kidneys in his body having undergone three
kidney transplants, with doctors claiming that he was the fourth patient to undergo the procedure in the country.

Jaswant Singh received the three kidneys from his family members- two from his sisters and the last one from his 55-year-old mother, doctors attending on him told reporters.  As none of the kidneys was removed to avoid any medical complication, Jaswant now has five kidneys in his body, they said.

Jaswant started facing renal system problems around 12 years back and underwent his first kidney transplant in 2004. The organ was donated by his sister. As the family was struggling to make ends meet, Jaswant discontinued his post-transplant medication after a year which led to rejection of the new kidney by the body, Jaswant said adding that in 2006 he got a second kidney donated by his other sister.

However, this time too the kidney failed within 14 months and he was again back on dialysis, he said. A desperate Jaswant went for a third transplant, this time the donor was his mother Amar Kaur. The doctors treating him also pooled in their resources.

"We not only did the operation free of cost but also arranged a good part of medicines," said Rajesh Agrawal, a surgeon at National Kidney Hospital, who conducted the surgery along with doctors Suresh Aggarawal and Sanjay Mittal.

Agrawal claimed that it was fourth case in the country where a third kidney transplant surgery had been done successfully. The earlier three cases were reported in
Hyderabad, Lucknow and Delhi.