Jaipur:
At the Modi Dharamshala right across Jaipur’s biggest government hospital — the Sawai Mansingh Hospital — patients start trickling in at 4 pm. Many of them are patients suffering from acute renal failure, their day’s dialysis done and a tiny room in this guesthouse their temporary home.
Many have been here for over 10 months. Others have had a shorter stay. But they all have one situation in common — they are patients whose kidneys have packed up and they are waiting here for a transplant.
Jayantilal and his wife Anita had left their home in Bagidora village in south Rajasthan’s Banswara district in March. They have been in Jaipur since. More than 530 km away, their son is managing their grocery shop. It is the family’s only
The donor is 59-year-old Jayantilal, the recipient his wife Anita. Their papers are complete, the No Objection Certificate has been obtained. In normal circumstances, this does not leave room for any waiting period.
But on May 30, their doctor, senior nephrologist Dr Dhananjay Agarwal retired. That delayed the transplant by a month.
For the financially strapped couple, it was the last straw.
“We have spent nearly Rs 5 lakh on my treatment. At first, we came and rented a room. Then we moved here into this guesthouse. But here too, the cost is Rs 900 a day. My son is all alone at home in the village in Bagidora. He is keeping the shop going, but I worry about how he is looking after himself,” said Anita, looking back at the tough times that started in March.
It is not Jayantilal and his wife who are waiting in the dharamshala.
It another room, Nitin Saini from Uttrakhand and his sister are also waiting for over a month. Nitin has to undergo dialysis each day — his ordeal will continue till he gets a transplant from his sister. Like Anita, his file, too, was put on hold after Dr Agarwal’s retirement.
He is still better off than Mahendra Saini, whose condition worsened as he awaited a transplant. His father was to be his donor. But now, the 35-year-old is in the Intensive Care Unit. “Water has filled in his stomach,” said a relative. “The transplant cannot be done until he recovers,” he added.
Room 518
With the media spotlight on the apathy of the hospital, the government has now swung into action, giving charge to a new doctor. The room 518 on the fifth floor of the hospital’s Nephrology ward is now open.
This was Dr Agarwal’s room. After his retirement, the records of his patients were locked inside, putting as many as 11 people waiting for a transplant on hold. The room has now been opened and Dr Sanjeev Sharma has taken charge, Dr Vinay Malhotra told NDTV.
“A locked room cannot hold up treatment. We asked for the keys and had it opened. Kidney transplants are a process, involving an entire team of doctors and patients. The records are also online,” he said.
“Dr Agarwal has been re-employed with the government and he has been posted in Ajmer. But another doctor is handling his cases now,” Malhotra added.
“We are hopeful now that Anita will receive treatment,” said Jayantilal. “Dr Sharma has said if all goes well and our parameters are fine, he will do the transplant in the next two weeks,” he added.
