Bishop Jacob Muricken from Malappuram gifts kidney, sets new trend

Kochi: A patient  from Malappuram received the kidney of Bishop Jacob Muricken of the Pala diocese of  the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church on Wednesday.

The transplant was successfully performed at the VPS Lakeshore Hospital, Kochi, on Sooraj, 30, a Hindu, by a team of doctors, including Dr George P. Abraham, Dr Datson George (urologists),

Dr Aby Abraham, Dr Jithin S. Kumar, (nephrologists), Dr Mohan Mathew head of critical care, and Dr Mathai Samuel. Muricken is the first serving bishop who volunteered to donate his kidney, while alive. Both the donor and the patient were recovering, said the doctors.

Sooraj, an employee of Kottakkal Aryavaidyasala and the only breadwinner of his family, had been waiting for a donor after he was diagnosed with organ failure. He had also registered his name with the Kidney Federation. Sooraj has only one kidney by birth and was suffering from continuous urinary infection.

Knowing his plight  from Kidney Federation chairman Fr Davis Chiramel, who himself had donated one of his kidneys seven years ago, the bishop offered his kidney to Sooraj, which was found  matching after tests.

The transplant was done with the financial support of the people of Sooraj’s locality. Earlier, he had sold his house and properties for Rs 12 lakh to raise the funds for the surgery. Bishop Muricken met  the expense for his checkups and other medical procedures worth Rs 60,000.