Gone too soon: Fourth-year MBBS student dies of organ failure

Friends of the deceased collect Rs8 million for his treatment in India.

SUKKUR:

Abdul Qadeer Ghanghro, a fourth-year MBBS student at Sukkur’s Ghulam Mohammad Mahar Medical College (GMMC), passed away on Friday morning. He was suffering from liver and renal failure and was set to travel to India for organ transplants.

In a rare show of friendship and human compassion, Abdul Qadeer’s peers and students of the medical college had collected funds worth Rs8 million by visiting houses and shops in different cities for his treatment.

Two months ago, the deceased, a resident of village Anbh near Kandhra, about 15 kilometres from Sukkur, was diagnosed with renal and liver failure. His father, Abdul Qadir Ghangro, employed as a clerk in the Sui Southern Gas Company, could not afford to bear the expenses to save his son’s life. It was at this point that the students of GMMC decided to take matters into their hands and started collecting funds for their ailing friend. In just one and a half months, the students managed to collect Rs8 million.

Besides the collection of funds, two of the students, Arsalan Zahid and Hameed Shar, were to accompany Abdul Qadeer to India where they would donate their kidneys for the transplant. With the money at hand and passports ready, both friends were in Islamabad for the visa process when they received the disheartening call about Abdul Qadeer’s death. The news was devastating, not only for his family, but also for the entire faculty at GMMC and the citizens of Sukkur in general who had donated generously for his recovery. The soyem for the deceased on Saturday was attended by a large number of people.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2013.