Today Organiser will take you through the tragic story of this woman from Kerala who faced abuses on donating a kidney to a Muslim man. The man abused him after the woman told the press about the donation saying, ‘Now my community members know that, I have a Hindu kidney’.
In 2009, the Hindu woman Lekha Namboothiri a resident of Mavelikkara in the Alappuzha district came across an advertisement from a man seeking kidney donors.
She was willing to donate her kidneys and had spurned offers mounting up to Rs 15 lakh. But she went on to donate one of her kidneys to Shafi from Pattambi who was in dire need of a kidney transplant in 2012.
Shafi presented himself as poor and claimed that he was on a deathbed. Lekha decided and hence underwent a donation process. For almost two years things went well.
As soon as a regional publication got wind of the incident they wanted to publish Lekha’s story. It was a perfect example of Hindu-Muslim unity. Rekha was reluctant about the possibility of unwarranted media attention, she and her husband Sajan did not want to make the matter public.
As per the media reports, “These are not things that one would want to take undue credit for. She donated a kidney considering it a humane gesture and not for publicity. I was outright against the matter becoming public, but later obliged to the persuasion of a reporter,” recalls Sajan who works as a driver.
However, they agreed and the report was published, the article read, ‘Communal Kidney,’ as the heading.
Lekha received a lot of appreciation from various people and the section of society. But the family was disturbed about the communal angle that was given to the whole issue, so much so that, more than the act of donating, it was the ‘communal kidney’ that made headlines.
Lekha’s husband told the media that before making the matter public, they took the consent of Saifi who agreed upon the decision. However, when his family and relatives get to know about it he shared his dissatisfaction as the donor belongs to another religion.
Sajan says that though the family was pained over such misplaced notions of faith, they chose to ignore such comments. “Nobody is concerned about religion when they are on the death bed. It is only later when things come back to normal, that people have time for such frivolous thinking,” Sajan said.
Lekha lives in a rented house and was battling waning financial conditions. Her husband Sajan is a patient himself, with his treatment having drained Lekha financially. The couple has two sons, studying in classes 8 and 10. It is in spite of these circumstances that she decided to go ahead with the organ donation, free of cost. There were many who offered her up to Rs 15 lakhs, which she rejected.
In 2016, Lekha was battling a spinal cord ailment and had undergone surgery. This was done after her kidney donation. Lekha had spinal trauma for over a decade, back in 2016 the injections started failing to alleviate her back-splitting pain and hence surgery was the sole option left. But with dwindling finances and a few doctors expressing doubt regarding complete recovery post-surgery, they just couldn’t make up their minds.
The family started a Facebook campaign to seek financial assistance for the family. It was after this her case made it to the news headlines. She was identified as the woman who helped save a life in the past, but now was in such dire financial straits herself, that she had to rethink about her own surgery.
Well, with the Facebook campaign Sajan managed to have Lekha’s surgery.
Notably, Lekha’s children used to attend RSS shakhas. However, the Kerala media tried to block the news that Lekha’s family had a connection with the RSS. The secular media did not want to highlight that a Hindu had done such a selfless act.
Recently, a verified Twitter user shared this story from his handle and it was shocking to learn the details. Here are some of the reactions made by the netizens:
A verified Twitter user wrote, “Organ donation is also a 1-way street in India, just like secularism. The reason seems linked to judgment day, jannat & 72 hoors (remember that fidayeen b0mber who had iron plate over his private parts – same reason). But they want organs from kafirs but kafirs can never be better than momins. Hence, all this hypocrisy.”
Another user wrote, “Your story narrates a Big Kidney Scam in Kerala!!! Legally, Kidney can’t b donated at will unless it is between a close family member with NOC of all Otherwise, the legal concept is that a cadaver Kidney goes to ppl waiting in queue in a list maintained by hospitals under Govt supervision!!”
A user wrote, “Instead of abusing the lady who donated her kidney if he is not able to take on his community, he has two options, 1. Donate that kidney to another person who requires Or 2. Do ghar waapsi. Is there any another honourable way?”
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