KASARAGOD: Ratheesh Pilicode, a teacher and Kudumbashree State Mission program officer, has collected Rs 16 lakh by selling book shelves to save the life of his Facebook friend who has undergone three kidney transplants.

Ratheesh collected the money for Thrissur native Pratheesh, a goldsmith. The kidneys donated by Pratheesh’s mother Shobhana and father Parameshwaran became non-functional. Pratheesh’s brother Pradeep donated his kidney six month ago. The first kidney transplant was 16 years ago. Pratheesh’s father died during the pandemic. Three kidney transplants cost Rs 30 lakh and Rs 1.15 lakh is needed per month for medicines. He is staying at a rented house and started making book shelves six months ago with the help of friends.

Pratheesh wrote about his plight on Facebook 1.5 years ago and Ratheesh offered help. Pratheesh requested him to sell the bookshelves they make. Ratheesh circulated this request on Facebook and then people started approaching.

Ratheesh haven’t met Pratheesh in person. Pratheesh's younger brother Pradeep will come in a lorry with bookshelves. Ratheesh then travels in same vehicle and sells the shelves to his friends. 743 bookshelves were sold in total and Rs 16 lakh was collected. At first the price of the shelf was Rs 2000. With the increase in the price of the goods, it is now being sold at Rs 2500.

Ratheesh, who is active in charity work, had built a house for his student Akhila in 2016 at a cost of Rs 5 lakh. He also helped to complete the house construction of his two students. Ratheesh became part of Kudumbashree Mission after 19 years of service at Chattanchal Higher Secondary School.