She was supposed to be able to rely on her parents to save her. But they wouldn't, all because she is a girl. Nor are they able to find donors for her.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on July 31, 2019. It has since been updated.
For most parents, their child is everything, whether it's a son or a daughter. They would do anything for them and if they were dying, they would put in double the effort. However, for this 16-year-old girl, that isn't the case and the reason will shock you.
Hailing from Bihar, India, Kanchan Kumari is struggling to stay alive after both her kidneys failed earlier this year. Instead of finding a donor or donating their own kidney to save their daughter, her parents are refusing to do anything about it. And according to local media, it's because she's a girl.
Around two months ago the teenager fell extremely ill and was undergoing treatment at a hospital in the Sheikhpura district in Bihar. The doctors informed her family that both her kidneys were shutting down and so she was rushed to Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science in Patna for a second consultation. It was there that doctors stated that Kanchan would require an urgent kidney transplant, reported The Times of India.
Kanchan's grandfather, Baleshwar Yadav, mentioned that not only would the surgery plus the kidney cost an exorbitant amount, too much for them to recover from, but also that her father could not donate his own kidney as he was the only earning member of the family of seven. "He will not be able to carry out his work with one kidney and our survival will be at stake," Yadav said. "The doctors said both her kidneys had stopped functioning and she urgently required a transplant. Besides the kidney, surgery will cost approximately $100,000 but that there is no guarantee of survival," according to the NZ Herald.
When Kanchan's father was asked about the situation by a local news reporter, this is all he had to say. “Who will donate their kidneys? She is a girl,” according to The Statesman.
Unfortunately, Kanchan's treatment bills were starting to pile up and being unable to handle that amount, Kanchan's parents brought her back to a local hospital in Sheikhpura. However, even that was becoming too much for them, and so they have brought her home to care for her themselves. Sheikhpura District Magistrate Inayat Khan told India Today that she would speak to the concerned authorities to find a way to solve this issue as quickly as possible.
Sadly though, according to data collected by The Times of India, a pitiable amount of women in the state of Bihar receive a kidney donation from family members, even though many women have donated kidneys in the state. A survey of kidney transplants carried out in the state shows that while 77% of kidney donors were women, only 8% of them were recipients, according to recent reports.
References:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12253591
