Student’s mother denied visa for kidney donation to son
UPDATE: Pulkit’s campaign is successful
On August 19, Home Office UK changed their decision and granted Pulkit Maniktala’s mother, Karuna Maniktala leave to remain in the UK on exceptional circumstances.
Pulkit’s petition received over 3000 signatories and he also received support from the Students’ Union (SU) campaign on facebook, which urged students to write to their local MPs and the Home Office to get them to change their decision.
Maahwish Mizra, Education officer at Warwick said the SU will continue to support Pulkit, “When I read about his situation it was clear to me that this is an extremely distressing situation for him and his family, and when I brought it up with the rest of the Sabbatical Officer team we were all in immediate agreement that it is our duty as a union to do what we can for him.
Thank you all so much for all of your support! Pulkit is very happy and the SU is going to continue to work to support him.”
Karuna Maniktala, mother of Pulkit Maniktala, a 21 year-old Indian citizen studying at Warwick University, has been denied a temporary stay visa in Coventry which she needs in order to donate her kidney to her son.
Pulkit Maniktala is a third-year Computer Science student at Warwick. His illness was caused by an illness he was diagnosed with in his childhood, a protein leakage from his kidney.
Pulkit was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure by the National Health Service (NHS). He faces one of two options, he can either stay on long term renal dialysis or get a kidney transplant.
Pulkit is currently on a required day-to-day treatment of haemodialysis at University Hospitals Coventry. He has been receiving this treatment for the past year.
The hospital is already preparing Maniktala for a kidney transplant and they are in the process of disabling his own kidneys in preparation for a new one to be given to him. The transplant has been scheduled for October 2014.
Pulkit’s mother, accompanied him to the UK as his carer with a tourist visa due to the cap of six months. Karuna immediately offered to be a donor for her son when she was told by her son’s consultants that a family member could donate their kidney to a patient. After undergoing a battery of medical tests Karuna was declared a ‘Suitable Donor’ for her son.
Karuna Maniktala applied for a temporary residency visa in order that the kidney transplant and post-operative medical attention for donor and recipient could be taken care of.
Photo: Warwick SU campaign
Pulkit said: “We had applied for the leave to remain through an immigration lawyer and we recently got a letter from the UK Home Office denying my mother the leave to stay.
“They feel that we can get the same medical treatment in my home country that is India and we also have enough resources for the treatment to be carried out. The major issues in our application remained un-tackled and seem to be totally ignored by the Home Office.”
The request for Pulkit’s visa was denied on the premise that treatment is available in India and the fact that they have the sources to get to it.
the practicality of availing such treatment in India while, at the same time, pursuing studies in the UK needs to be appreciated and taken into account
– Karuna Maniktala
Pulkit and his mother disagree: “It is correct that treatment is available in India, but the practicality of availing such treatment in India while, at the same time, pursuing studies in the UK needs to be appreciated and taken into account.”
Since being diagnosed with renal failure Pulkit has remained committed to his lectures and coursework along with the demands of four-long dialysis sessions in hospital three times a week.
If Pulkit is able to have the transplant he plans to continue his third and fourth year studying a masters at Warwick.
The order for the refusal of the temporary residency visa stated that, “having taken all the compassionate aspects of your application, we find that they do not entitle you to remain in the UK. Hence, the application is denied.”
Pulkit Maniktala started a petition which now has over 2000 signatories and a Facebook page, urging the public to write to the Home Office and protest against his case. At Warwick, the Students’ Union has also launched a campaign in support of Pulkit.
Peter Dunn head of communications at Warwick stated: “We were disappointed to hear that that was the ruling, and we understand that the family are still exploring if there are ways of contesting it.”
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