Kidney transplant donor, recipient vote 7 days after surgery in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Anithalakshmi (35) donated her kidney to her ailing husband who works as an HR manager in a private company seven days ago. She, along with her husband, Yogananda, are still recovering at Manipal hospital in Hebbal. But on Wednesday morning, they were out at the polling booth casting their votes.
"A vote should not be wasted. I have never missed a single vote all these years.When the hospital agreed to arrange facilities to travel, we were keen to use it,” said Yogananda who is back in his room after voting. "The new government should provide facilities that will help all starta of the society," he said.
The couple recently underwent HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) incompatible and an ABO incompatible swap kidney transplant. It is one of the few SWAP transplants done in Karnataka between HLA and ABO incompatible couples, said the hospital.
The couple is among the 16 in-patients Manipal is helping to vote today. "We realised that many in-patients are missing out on voting. When we checked with them we realised how keen they are to vote. That is when we decided to roll out this initiative. As a hospital we will go beyond our duties to help our patients deliver the constitutional right as well," said Karthik Rajagopal, COO, Manipal Hospitals. The hospital received support from the chief electoral officer Manoj Kumar Meena, who assured support.
The clinical parameters of the patients were checked before morning before leaving. The patients were accompanied by medical staff and ambulance to the voting centres.
The patients who voted today included transplant survivors, patients under dialysis, an accident patient, Post TURP, patients who are under chemotherapy, and patients recovering from lung cancer. Although there were many inpatients who expressed their willingness to vote, but only 16 were declared fit to leave the hospital for voting. Among the 16, there were 2 high-end cases who were transported to their respective constituencies guarded by nurses and a doctor.
These patients were taken to nine voting booths spread across Anekal, Rajaji Nagar, Shivaji Nagar, Sun City, Haralur, Malleshpalya, Malleshwaram, Dasarahalli, Mahalakshmi layout and CV Raman Nagar.