Arnav Gupta

On March,2, 2021, Anudaan- Making Transplants Affordable” team received an email from Aster CMI Hospital, Bangalore requesting financial aid for 21 year old Sujatha Chowgule, hailing from Selcete, South Goa diagnosed with decompensat liver diease (Autoimmune hepatitis). Sujatha belongs to a poor family and was in need of an urgent liver transplant and hence the hospital took the decision to find financial support for the transplant. 

The total cost of Liver Transplant was Rs. 15 Lakhs, out of which, the family could only manage to contribute Rs. 2 Lakhs. So, raising the rest amount for the transplant became a major challenge for the Hospital.  To begin with, Aster CMI Hospital started a crowd funding on KETTO for Sujatha’s transplant. At this time, they approached MOHAN Foundation’s Anudaan team to help them in raising additional funds. 

Anudaan team contacted Mr. Somnath N. Chowgule, Sujatha’s father who shared that they could not afford the transplant as as he was a poor man and worked as a civil contractor in his village. Due to COVID 19, he was not getting much work. He could hardly feed his family of 6 members with his meager income. He had somehow kept aside one Lakh from his savings borrowed one Lakh from his family members. The family had no means of raising the balance Rs. 13 lakhs that they had been quoted for the transplant. The disheartened father requested Anudaan team to support and save his daughter. 

Anudaan team also contacted Sanika Chowgule, age 23, elder sister of Sujatha. She informed that Sujatha had been a fighter and stayed positive and strong since the day, when she heard about her liver disease. Though, she was aware that the family could not afford her transplant, she never lost hope. She kept telling us “ Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I am not going to die.” Sanika said it was her strong will power, which gave hope to all the family members. 

After thorough discussion with the family members, Anudaan team decided to support Sujatha’s transplant. The team coordinated with Transplants Help the poor Foundation, one of the Anudaan’s partner, and they committed their support towards Sujatha’s transplant. The Praveen Aggarwal Foundation also decided to provide financial aid for the transplant. MOHAN Foundation raised Rs. 2.5 lakhs. Through this collaborative effort, Sujatha successfully underwent liver transplant on April 19, 2021.

Sujatha is a hardworking and determined young girl. Since her childhood, she has an ambition to be a Fashion Designer. Sujatha has now returned to her hometown and is slowly resuming a normal life. She has restarted her studies and looks forward to becoming financially independent so that she can support her family.