A mother unable to watch her 24-year-old son suffer wants to donate to him one of her kidneys but the transplant has to wait because of a lack of funds.

Biplab Dasgupta’s kidneys were found to be irreversibly damaged in October last year. His mother Rama, 55, immediately came forward as a donor but the estimated cost of the transplant forced them to put off the surgeries. Even the delay is a strain on the family’s finances with months of dialyses draining the funds.

“I am undergoing two dialyses a week since October and will have to go on like this for the rest of my life if I can’t get a transplant,” said Biplab in his Ramlal Bazar home.

He used to work in an insurance agency before quitting last year because of poor health. The lone earning member of the family of three is his elder brother Badal, who drives an autorickshaw.

Rama said the family had approached several government and private hospitals. The estimated cost for the surgeries and post-operative medication ranged from Rs 1,50,000 to Rs 4,20,000 — beyond the family’s capacity.

Chandranath Sarkar, a visiting renal and transplant physician at Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan, where Biplab goes for dialyses, said: “Biplab’s creatinine (waste filtered out by kidneys) level is over 15 milligram per decilitre. It has been high for some time, indicating permanent damage to kidneys.” The normal value is below one.

Biplab’s friends Dipak Saha and Sumit Bhowmick are gathering funds with the help of local clubs to help the family foot the monthly medical bill of Rs 10,000. “Whatever money is being collected by the local boys is being spent on dialyses,” said Rama.