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National picks up dialysis bill of Indian

DUBAI — A Pakistani kidney donor has come to the aid of a Dubai-based Indian suffering from renal failure.

Thirtyfive-year old Azmatullah Khan, who works as a marketing executive with a computer peripherals store in Bur Dubai, was diagnosed with renal medical disease earlier this year, and has since been on dialysis at the Rashid Hospital.

A recently introduced regulation in India stipulates that the kidney donor must be a blood-relative of the patient. Since Azmatullah’s mother is too old to be a donor and his elder brother is an alcoholic, he had to seek a donor outside the country, his cousin Mohammed Fareed told Khaleej Times.

According to Fareed, a Pakistani national who used to visit the Rashid Hospital for dialysis, told Azmatullah of Masood Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, where a kidney transplant could be arranged. “We wrote to the hospital with details on his medical condition, and they replied positively,” Fareed said, adding that the cost for the transplant and related expenses are too steep for Azmatullah to afford.

The patient’s friends and relatives (he has two cousins and a nephew working in Dubai) have managed to collect Dh20,000 of the total Dh50,000 required for his treatment, and are seeking help from the public to raise the amount.

Fareed said Azmatullah was already receiving help from an anonymous UAE national, who is paying the cost of his thrice-weekly dialysis sessions at the Rashid Hospital.

“Twice he could not avail of the dialysis because he did not have the money. A day’s dialysis support costs Dh800 at the hospital, and that amounts to Dh2,400 per week, while he earns Dh1,500 per month. A couple of days after he missed his treatment, a staff at the hospital called him and said he could continue receiving the dialysis as a UAE national was paying for the expenses,” he said.

Fareed called on the members of the public, particularly the Indian and Pakistani expatriate community in the UAE, to extend financial assistance to his cousin.

“We also approached the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai and were told that a visa would be issued for the patient and an attendant, if medical records and a letter from the hospital in Pakistan were submitted. The only thing that stands between my cousin and an almost normal, healthy life is Dh50,000,” he said.

Donations can be made to Mohammed Fareed’s bank account at the Commercial Bank of Dubai (Account No. 1000472470).

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