Medical student is Maharashtra’s brand ambassador for organ donation

MUMBAI: To promote organ donation among the youth, the state government has appointed a 22-year-old medical student, Juhi Pawar, as brand ambassador of its organ donation awareness programme.
“I am happy to be the brand ambassador for the programme. I will try to convince the youth to donate organs,” said Juhi, who had donated her liver to her father Ravindra Pawar, vice-principal of Nutan Maratha College in Jalgaon, in 2012. Though the transplant was successful, he developed kidney problems and died after six months.
Juhi, who had participated in the Miss India pageant in 2013, is a second-year MBBS student at K J Somaiya Medical College in Sion. She lives in the college hostel.
In 2010, Pawar was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, which he had contracted through blood transfusion after an accident. “As only my blood group matched that of my father’s, I offered to donate my liver. But my parents were against it,” Juhi told mediapersons at Mantralaya on Tuesday. “How could I put two of my family members at risk,” asked Juhi’s mother Kiran.
The Pawars finally agreed for the transplant after doctors convinced them that the liver regenerates and it would not affect the girl’s health. “I donated 70% of my liver,” said Juhi. The transplant was done on July 17, 2012, in Medanta hospital in Gurgaon (Haryana).
Post-transplant, Pawar returned to Jalgaon, but he soon developed kidney problems. “Juhi was ready to donate him a kidney too, but doctors could not take the risk. He died in January 2013,” said Kiran.
Irrigation minister Girish Mahajan had recommended Juhi’s name for the brand ambassador.