NEW DELHI — Despite the sensation caused by the illegal kidney transplant racket allegedly run by Amit Kumar, there seems to be no check on the thriving organ trade in India. Before the Gurgaon kidney racket hit the headlines, the police in southern India had found evidence of poor fishermen selling kidneys for survival in the wake of the tsunami that destroyed their means of livelihood.
With the kidney transplant racket flourishing in various parts of the country, the government plans to introduce several amendments to make organ transplant laws simpler and increase punishment for those indulging in the illegal organ trade. The government would amend the National Organ Transplant Act in the coming budget session, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said.
Though around 150,000 Indians need a kidney every year, only 3,500 are legally available. Around 2,000 Indians sell a kidney illegally every year, and many go to racketeers such as Amit Kumar. Organ scarcity is a global problem, in which, “the poor of the developing world” have “become a vast reservoir” of organs for the developed world, according to R.R. Kishore, chairperson of International Committee on Organ Transplantation.
But not everybody is involved in the kidney racket — depriving the poor of their kidneys and getting rich by selling them to wealthy patients. Social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook are engaged in the business of marketing kidneys online. Orkut has more than 700 members of 35 kidney transplant related communities, while thousands, including many Indians, are enrolled in Facebook.
Dismissing allegations that it was involved in a trade that violated Indian rules, Orkut said: “The communities and profiles, indulging in commercial kidney donation, were reviewed as per our policies and those in violation have been effectively removed.”
These sites have been able to thrive with support of potential donors as well as recipients, simply because they are needed. Srujan, a driver in Bangalore, earns around Rs.12,000 per month as salary. On what prompted him to consider selling his kidney for which he posted an appeal to Orkut, he said: “My sister suffered from a liver infection and we had to spend nearly a million on her treatment, sixty percent of which was borrowed money. Now, I have to repay the debt and hence I want to sell my kidney.”
Kulkarni has decided to become a prospective donor on Orkut for love of a child.
“My wife is unable to conceive despite many years of marriage. We wanted to try for a test-tube baby but that will cost me over Rs.500,000. I am unable to afford such a price and hence am willing to sell my kidney,” he told a news agency. Accepting that this is illegal, he said: “I know this is an illegal act but what can I do?”
There are some like Santosh Kumar who are willing to donate their kidneys for humanitarian reasons. “Help the needy is my motto,” he said. There are others, who know they may be faced with no other option, but buy kidney, including Bangaraju from Hyderabad. “I am on dialysis for many years. Only the other member in the family is my mother. If she is medically not fit to donate her kidney, I would be left with no option but to seek outside help. I do not mind fulfilling my donor’s wish,” Bangaraju said.
