Siti Fairus Muhammad, 34, suffered from kidney problems since her secondary school days.

“I was about 15 or 16. I went to see a doctor because I had a fever. According to the doctor, my urine was not clean and it was not filtered,” Fairus told Malaysiakini.

“When I was 16, I went to Kota Bharu Hospital and the doctor wanted to take a sample of my kidney. My father did not approve and so I continued with school and later got married,” she recalled.

It was suspected that Fairus suffered from kidney failure due to the strong medication she had taken during her childhood for a skin condition. As nothing was done to treat the side effects, it gradually got...