Illegal organ transplants is a huge racket in India, where the desperate with the cash manage to subvert the system and where unscrupulous middle men profit at the cost of poor and desperate donors. There is a global need for healthy body parts that can help save lives and a worldwide shortage that organ traffickers take advantage of. A private Mumbai hospital is the latest to come under the scanner.
Global Hospital in Parel in central Mumbai is the latest under the government scanner for a case of suspected illegal organ trade. Here a young man offered to donate a kidney to an older man who he said was his father. The hospital okayed the donation but it now seems that the two may not be biological father and son. The 6 member panel of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) disapproved the donation and rejected the application when it seemed that this was case of sale of organs and not a donation out of love and affection.
Some years ago the kidney trade racket that came to light in Gurgaon indicated how widespread the network of illegal organ donation is. Poor victims from parts of West UP and elsewhere were lured into selling their kidneys to rich clients from Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Greece and elsewhere. Horrific stories of poor victims lured on the pretext of being offered jobs, then being drugged and operated on against their will came to light. One Dr Amit Kumar and others involved were arrested on charges of having been responsible for about 600 illegal kidney transplants over about a decade. Several clinics, hospitals and labs in Gurgaon, Noida and areas close to Delhi were found to be involved. Kumar and five accused were arrested and convicted and sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment.
The Gurgaon racket was one of the earliest and best known, but far from the only one. There was the Amritsar Kidney scandal, the Shirdi doctor who was in the news for his kidney package service and more recently the Apollo Hospital story relating to illegal organ trade.
About two lakh people in India need kidneys each year, but only about 3% of those get the life saving organ. One problem is the lack of awareness among people about organ donation in general and ignorance about pledging organs. There is also an absence of a consolidated program that helps match cadaver donor to recipient in a quick and effective manner. Harvestable organs of accident victims for instance are often not utilized simply because of this lack of awareness and coordination. Another problem is the legal hurdles to donation of organs by and to unrelated people and the documentation and evaluations involved in the process. Until the process of donation is better coordinated and streamlined, the illegal traders will continue to take advantage of the desperate and the poor.
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