Fresh campaign: Ailing Edhi supports organ donation

Humanitarian worker continues to work despite kidney failure, awaits organ match.

KARACHI: The ailing condition of Abdul Sattar Edhi has not stopped the country’s leading humanitarian from taking on fresh challenges.

On Tuesday, a frail yet determined Edhi announced his support for organ donation. “I have always believed in [serving] humanity and there is no harm in donating organs,” said Edhi.

The announcement came minutes after his doctor and founder of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), Dr Adeebul Hasan Rizvi, spoke about the apparent failure of Edhi’s kidneys and his need for routine dialysis.

Otherwise, the condition of the humanitarian worker is under control.

“The kidneys have failed but now the condition is under control,” Dr Rizvi said, adding that Edhi undergoes dialysis sometimes, but not every day. “Until his kidneys are replaced, Edhi will remain under treatment,” he said.



Calling for the media to support the call for organ donation, Dr Rizvi said that while there was “no urgent need for kidney transplantation as yet,” a transplant would be undertaken once a donor match was found.

Rizvi said, “Edhi is suffering from one disease only: he feels the pain of his people,” adding that the social worker continues to do his work, including frequent visits to his Edhi centre.

He told reporters that he was spending “24 hours at
the centre.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2013.