Pakistani couple sell daughter to save son's life

Lahore, May 16 (ANI): A poor Pakistani couple sold their four-year-old daughter to save the life of their 12-year-old son.

Mazari Maher and Sardar Khatoon, from district Shikarpur, sold their daughter, Haseena, to their neighbours in their native village Laki for the treatment of their son, Abdul Rasheed, suffering from aplastic anaemia.

It is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells, reports Daily Times.

Haseena's mother said that selling their daughter to a neighbouring family meant the girl would be married with a boy of that family when she grows up.

The couple was shocked when a private hospital told them that the treatment - a bone marrow transplant - would cost millions.

According to the estimated expenses given by the hospital to the father, the transplant would cost Rs 1.5 million in addition to Rs 16,500 for HLA typing per person and Rs 35,000 per month for the follow up treatment.

Pakistan Medical Association Secretary General Dr Habib Soomro said there was no facility of bone marrow transplants at any government hospital.

Rasheed's parents visit the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) whenever his condition becomes serious and his nose starts bleeding. (ANI)