Police in Mumbai said they suspect a criminal gang which preys on poor people for their organs is behind a kidney transplant racket at a top hospital, the latest such case in India where a shortage of organs is fuelling a black-market trade.
It was during a visit to a Chennai colony over 20 years ago that one became painfully aware of the disturbing practice of organ trade. The vulnerable residents there, largely living with leprosy, were targeted by middle-men to sell their kidney to individuals who desperately needed one.
Don’t take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here. This popular quote by an unknown author sufficiently sums up the current scenario in the country. A huge gap exists between patients who need organ transplants and potential donors. It's not that there cannot be enough organs to transplant.
From being a hotbed for kidney racketeers to leading the organ donation drive in the country, Tamil Nadu over the past eight years has transformed into an ambassador of the cadaver transplant programme. This month, the state recorded another high: 21 families donated organs of their braindead relatives - the highest in a month since 2008.
Earlier this month, a woman marched into a police station in India’s capital to file a domestic-abuse complaint and then made another allegation: that her husband was involved in illegal organ-trafficking.
India is rightly proud of its status as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. But there is another, less admirable label that refuses to go away. Despite the country’s best efforts to eradicate the black market trade in human organs, India retains a reputation as an easy place to buy a kidney.
The Apollo Group is one of the best known names among private hospitals in the country. So it was a bit of a shocker when the Delhi Police claimed on Friday that it had cracked a kidney racket operated by a group that included the personal staff of doctors at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.
Only one in every 300 kidney patients in India receives a donated organ. This huge gap in demand and supply of organs has led to the creation of an illegal kidney transplant industry worth Rs 250 crore a year. No wonder, despite a stringent law with up to 10 years’ imprisonment, some doctors and middlemen are running clandestine operations across the country.
Every 15 minutes, a person is added to the wait list for an organ. Every 10 minutes, a person dies waiting for an organ. Delhi, with a population of 9.8 million, saw only 14 organ donors in 2015, which is probably why families turn to purchasing organs from commercial donors.
Anita Singh, a 40-year-old from Noida with both her kidneys failed, sold her house earlier this year so that she could continue to pay for her dialysis.
