In the first segment of this week’s South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Pooja Prasanna speak to senior gynaecologist Dr Thankam Subramonian, who recently approached the Karnataka HC to altruistically donate a kidney after being denied permission by a medical committee.
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Dr Thankam went through the surgery three weeks ago, and she recalls the beginning of her journey to donate her kidneys.
“I had initially signed up to donate my kidneys after death. But recently I learnt that at the time of death, the actual conversion to donation happens in very few cases, depending on the circumstances of death, health at the time, location, and so on. So I felt that I had no control over the donation process. I wanted to take charge and donate organs I can give while I am alive. That is how I decided to donate my kidney,” she says.
She then explains the hurdles she had to jump through.
After medical tests, she was found fit to donate, but she says convincing the family was complicated. “I wanted to spread the message that one donor can save many lives and that organ donation is safe. Finally, after many discussions and consultations with doctors, I got the no-objection certificate from my family. I also had to complete verification from BBMP and police, where my intentions were initially met with suspicion. Later, they also came around after a thorough background check to make sure there was no monetary transaction involved. A hospital committee also had to approve my transplant. Doctors were not very encouraging at first. But they appreciated the thought behind it, without wanting to let the onus of such a procedure fall on them,” she explains.
Dhanya asks, before going to court, how long the process took to convince everyone.
“It took six or seven years for my file to reach the transplant committee. But the committee denied permission, saying there was no relationship between me and the donor, a 24-year-old orphan in renal failure. This violated my premise of altruistic donation itself, and I felt I should challenge it. That is how I went to the Karnataka High Court and got an order in my favour,” Dr Thankam says.
Pooja asks how a person willing to donate can emotionally appeal to families to facilitate the process.
Dr Thankam says that though India is among the most populous countries in the world, organ donation rates are abysmally low. “My act of altruistic donation is also to build awareness about the safety and, in fact, necessity of organ donation,” she adds.
She further adds that deciding to donate is also a commitment to stay healthy and keep organs useful by the time one passes.
Dhanya points out how India has several laws that mandate rigid formalities for organ donation because poor people are exploited to donate organs. Dr Thankam says she appreciates the law and understands the safeguards, but explains that decisions must also be made on a case-by-case basis.
Pooja asks what other organs can be donated by a person while they are alive.
“Kidney and part of the liver. But liver donation is a newer procedure and involves more risk compared to kidneys,” says Dr Thankam.
Dhanya also asks her about her thoughts on the ongoing Israel-Iran war, considering her decades-long experience of having worked in conflict zones.
“It is always the marginalised who are affected by war, and most often they are women. When I served in Afghanistan I saw how women lost their identity, health care, and other facilities. So wherever wars happen for whatever reason, the underprivileged, mainly women and children, are the worst affected. I joined MSF after seeing a pregnant lady being carried down by civilians, who later died along with her child during the Ukraine war,” Dr Thankam says.
In the second segment, the hosts delve into the ongoing military conflict between Iran, Israel and the USA. They are joined by Aditya Ramanathan, a Research Fellow with the Takshashila Institution, where he heads the Advanced Military Technologies Programme, and Nirmal Abraham, a journalist who specialises in international politics, especially matters of the USA.
Dhanya starts the conversation by recalling how things have been unfolding and asks the experts how long this war may go on for.
Aditya says that once violence starts, it is hard to say when it will end. “ The Iranian state is deep, and there are many to take the place of those who have fallen. But I think the Israelis are not going to back down either.
Nirmal also says that this may go on for a few days. “I think this will go on for a while. Both Netanyahu and Trump will face elections soon. Both anticipate votes by way of their previous actions. They need to get this done soon for that reason. Since they have taken down the Supreme Leader, they may go along with the strategy with Hamas, wherein they took down every leader who took the place of the one they first killed. This may stop if there is a terrorist attack in some place in the UAE where there are European or US nationals. Also, if something goes wrong with the immigrant populations in the US or the UAE, things may turn around,” he says.
Aditya details how Iran has a robust military system to take and delegate orders in the absence of one leader. “There is a succession plan and a lot of authority, including military commands that are delegated and pre-determined orders that are carried out. But there may possibly come a time when you take out the senior leadership, and you are left with not many options of people who strike a chord with people and the other elites,” he says.
Dhanya asks if India’s lack of condemnation or even expression of concern for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader would affect us.
“The PM probably wants to be neutral, but there could have been a message expressing alarm over the killing of a state’s leader. Politics does not have to be a barrier for that. And Iran has been crucial to India in terms of intelligence, oil, building ports and so on,” says Nirmal.
The panel then discusses the probable changes in diplomatic equations if the war prolongs, and how Indian citizens may be affected.
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Audio Timecodes
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:02:27 - Headlines
00:11:26- Kidney donation
00:38:40- Iran-Israel war
1:20:20 - Recommendations
References
Praveen Pagadala: The life, death, and political afterlife of a Telugu Christian Apologist
A new NDTV under Rahul Kanwal for a new India
Recommendations
Dr Thankam Subramonian
Aditya Ramanathan
Nirmal Abraham
Pooja Prasanna
Dhanya Rajendran
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Produced by Megha Mukundan, edited by Jaseem Ali, written by Sukanya Shaji.