BHUBANESWAR: Two women donated their kidneys to each other’s husbands, saving both the lives.
The transplant was successful for Ganeswar Sankhua and Sushanta Kumar Sahu.
For Sankhua (38) of Keonjhar, it was his second transplant after the first bid failed. His mother was the donor during the first transplant four years ago.
Similarly, Sahu (40) of Narasinghpur with blood group A+ was under dialysis for the past six months.
The wives of Sankhua and Sahu had been looking for suitable donors as kidneys of their respective spouses were a mismatch for each other.
They agreed for kidney swapping after learning that the blood groups each other’s spouses match. Sankhua’s wife Annapurna donated her kidney to Sahu whose wife Jayanti donated her kidney to Sankhua.
The cross-donor kidney transplant that lasted for nearly four hours each was conducted at city-based BR Life Kalinga Hospital by a team of young surgeons.
“We met each other during dialysis in the hospital. When we came to know that the blood group of each other’s wives were matching, we agreed for swapping of kidneys. Fortunately, both the donors are also of same age,” said Sankhua.
Transplant surgeon Dr Biswajit Nanda said the entire procedure was complex and challenging as four surgeries were performed simultaneously.
It was conducted for the first time here and is a rare achievement as both donors and recipients are now healthy, he added.