Panaji: A resident of Dhavali village in Walwa taluka of Maharashtra’s Sangli district, 67-year-old farmer Pramod Laxman Mahajan took a life-altering decision 18 years ago by donating one of his kidneys to an ex-Army jawan from his native village, whose both kidneys had failed.
Not only did he save the life of this Army veteran, but his gesture also inspired 20 more individuals to donate one of their kidneys to kin. Also, more than 1,000 individuals have till now pledged to donate their organs by signing the consent form.
“Army veteran Balu Kamble’s both kidneys had failed and he was in urgent need of a kidney. Although there were some donors available, their blood group was not matching with Kamble’s. Fortunately, my blood group matched with his. I immediately volunteered to donate one of my kidneys,” Mahajan told Gomantak Times.
Not only this, but he has also later facilitated life-saving surgeries in top government hospitals of Maharashtra for scores of poor villagers without charging them a penny.
“Till date, I have facilitated free life-saving surgeries like heart, brain, kidney in government hospitals costing around Rs 5 crore. I have transported the patients from remote villages to these hospitals, spent time with them inside the hospital and even transported them back to their homes. All this I have done without charging any money,” he said.
Now Mahajan has embarked on a solo motorbike expedition across India, covering more than 10,000 km in 100 days for creating awareness on organ donation.
The expedition was flagged off on October 21, 2018, from Pune and will conclude on January 27. He is currently on his Goa leg (January 18-20) of Bharat Organ Yatra where he has had numerous
public meetings.
He also busted the myth that a person will cease to be physically active by donating his or her kidney.
“Even after donating my kidney I continued to work in the fields. Now despite ageing over 60, I am riding a motorcycle and going around the entire country without any discomfort. I started from Pune, reached Haryana via Mumbai and then went to Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and now I am in Goa. On Monday I will proceed for Kolhapur, Pandharpur, Baramati and then conclude in Pune,” he said.
Goa IGP Jaspal Singh, President of Goa Union of Journalists Kishore Gaonkar and Unit Head of Manipal Hospital, Manish Trivedi together flagged off Mahajan’s final leg of the expedition from Manipal Hospital, Dona Paula on Monday.
“Our greater objective is to highlight the value of cadaver (brain dead) donors,” said Dr Shekhar Salkar, Past President of Indian Medical Association, Goa, which is supporting Mahajan’s campaign in Goa.
