South Central

South Central 65: The doctor who went to court to donate kidney and Iran-Israel war

By Dhanya Rajendran

March 08, 2026 at 10:00 AM

In the first segment of this week’s South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Pooja Prasanna speak to senior gynaecologist Dr Thankam Subramonian, who recently approached the Karnataka HC to altruistically donate a kidney after being denied permission by a medical committee.

Dr Thankam went through the surgery three weeks ago, and she recalls the beginning of her journey to donate her kidneys.

“I had initially signed up to donate my kidneys after death. But recently I learnt that at the time of death, the actual conversion to donation happens in very few cases, depending on the circumstances of death, health at the time, location, and so on. So I felt that I had no control over the donation process. I wanted to take charge and donate organs I can give while I am alive. That is how I decided to donate my kidney,” she says.

She then explains the hurdles she had to jump through.

After medical tests, she was found fit to donate, but she says convincing the family was complicated. “I wanted to spread the message that one donor can save many lives and that organ donation is safe. Finally, after many discussions and consultations with doctors, I got the no-objection certificate from my family. I also had to complete verification from BBMP and police, where my intentions were initially met with suspicion. Later, they also came around after a thorough background check to make sure there was no monetary transaction involved. A hospital committee also had to approve my transplant. Doctors were not very encouraging at first. But they appreciated the thought behind it, without wanting to let the onus of such a procedure fall on them,” she explains.

Dhanya asks, before going to court, how long the process took to convince everyone.

“It took six or seven years for my file to reach the transplant committee. But the committee denied permission, saying there was no relationship between me and the donor, a 24-year-old orphan in renal failure. This violated my premise of altruistic donation itself, and I felt I should challenge it. That is how I went to the Karnataka High Court and got an order in my favour,” Dr Thankam says.

In the second segment, the hosts delve into the ongoing military conflict between Iran, Israel and the USA. They are joined by Aditya Ramanathan, a Research Fellow with the Takshashila Institution, where he heads the Advanced Military Technologies Programme, and Nirmal Abraham, a journalist who specialises in international politics, especially matters of the USA.

Dhanya starts the conversation by recalling how things have been unfolding and asks the experts how long this war may go on for.

Aditya says that once violence starts, it is hard to say when it will end. “ The Iranian state is deep, and there are many to take the place of those who have fallen. But I think the Israelis are not going to back down either.

Nirmal also says that this may go on for a few days. “I think this will go on for a while. Both Netanyahu and Trump will face elections soon. Both anticipate votes by way of their previous actions. They need to get this done soon for that reason. Since they have taken down the Supreme Leader, they may go along with the strategy with Hamas, wherein they took down every leader who took the place of the one they first killed. This may stop if there is a terrorist attack in some place in the UAE where there are European or US nationals. Also, if something goes wrong with the immigrant populations in the US or the UAE, things may turn around,” he says.

Dhanya asks if India’s lack of condemnation or even expression of concern for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader would affect us.

“The PM probably wants to be neutral, but there could have been a message expressing alarm over the killing of a state’s leader. Politics does not have to be a barrier for that. And Iran has been crucial to India in terms of intelligence, oil, building ports and so on,” says Nirmal.

The panel then discusses the probable changes in diplomatic equations if the war prolongs, and how Indian citizens may be affected.

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Audio Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:27 - Headlines

00:11:26- Kidney donation

00:38:40- Iran-Israel war