Kidney donor ready,government says not allowed

Salve moved the Bombay High Court and a division bench allowed Salve’s lawyer to submit an affidavit by March 16 to establish that the friendship is genuine. Salve says the application was filed after pleas of his friend,Raju Shinde,a fruit vendor,to donate a kidney was rejected by the state government.

“I want to live and am tired running to hospitals and now the court,” Salve,who was detected with renal failure in 2009,told this paper on Friday. PMC chief medical officer Dr R R Pardeshi said PMC was funding his treatment at Ruby Hall Clinic.

“He is undergoing dialysis at the hospital and his bills are footed by the PMC through the health scheme,” he said.

Salve has two sons sons aged 17 and 15,and a daughter aged 13. “I am unable to do much. My elder son accompanies me to office everyday. The department is very considerate on that front,” says Salve. His wife Sangeeta does not have a job and all his extra expenses are borne by his brother Ramdas Salve. “Here we have a donor and because of the law we are not able to get it done. We hope the court considers our case,” says friend Atul Pawar.

Under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act,the donor has to be closely related to the recipient. The provision bars an unrelated donor,unless the reason is affection for or attachment with the recipient or any special reason. Advocate Uday Warunjikar said they are awaiting the hearing on March 16.

The court said there were ways to establish attachment between two unrelated persons. The judges said the only anxiety was poor people getting induced to sell their kidneys.

Salve said he approached the Sassoon Hospital and the Mantralaya but was denied permission. So he moved court. The committee that refused his plea referred to its interview where Shinde said he had not met Salve during his illness and had not attended his wedding.

The petition claims Shinde had offered to be the donor on account of affection and attachment.