Mani issues orders to give interest-free loan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister K M Mani has issued orders to give `6 lakh as interest -free loan to Abhilash, a resident of Pathanapuram Punnalapadayani Patha, to get his kidney transplanted at a private hospital in Ernakulam. Abhilash, who had been working with the Water Authority as a pump operator had undergone kidney transplantation 10 years ago, selling his house and land. But fate struck for the second time as the disease again resurfaced in last December.The doctors at the Govt Medical College Hospital asked him to wait for a year and a half to get his kidney transplanted there. Sensing that the delay in carrying out the transplantation might put the life of the youth at stake, he was admitted to a private hospital in Ernakulam.  Doctors at the hospital asked him to pay Rs 6 lakh as deposit prior to the surgery. But norms of the Water Authority allows release of only Rs 10,000 as the initial payment.