Rajasthan woman donates her kidney to Army friend

Bengaluru, July 31: In an exemplary instance of friendship, a Rajasthani woman donated her kidney to a friend, a serving army officer amid opposition from her family.

According to Times of India report, Varsha Sharma (48), successfully petitioned the Karnataka high court to get the required clearances for the unrelated organ transplant. She underwent a surgery on Friday (July 27), during which her kidney was transplanted into Col Pankaj Bhargava at Columbia Asia hospital.

Anil Srivastava, the founder of Gift of Life Adventure Foundation, played a crucial role in taking the plea to the court.

"I am not sure if cases of unrelated donors will increase with Varsha's case, but what matters is how the committee reacts to such things," Srivatsav was quoted by TOI as saying.

Varsha had started preparing herself for the donation since October 2017 and has shed 21kg.

On April 10, the health and family welfare department sent a letter to the state authorisation committee and hospitals with authorised transplant panels to put on hold her intended donation.

In May, Varsha petitioned the high court seeking quashing of the government communication and pleaded the expedition of the process to grant approval for the transplant.