India’s Illegal Kidney Trade
These kidney rackets dupe a lot of poor people into selling their Kidneys. Sometimes, they are forced to sell their kidneys. The use entire process of illegal kidney transplants is very elaborate and organized. A few years ago, Tamil Nadu used to be the epicenter for such rackets but now it is Delhi. Let me explain how these rackets operate. There is usually a mastermind who has his “agent’. The agents are split into two teams. One team goes to slums and homeless shelters. These agents roam outside temples and gurudwaras and identify poor people who are in desperate need of money.
Then they give poor people an offer to sell one of their kidneys for lakhs of rupees. in the meantime, another team contacts patients at dialysis centers and Facebook support groups and makes them an offer for the organ. Kidneys are usually sold for anything between INR 70 lakh and INR 1 crore depending on how urgent the need is. Usually, they only receive 3 lakh. the rest of the amount is distributed among those who run the business. These donors who are usually very poor, are also given the training to face the interview board of the authorization committees of the hospitals. So, a lot of times, the agents arrange fake identification documents to show that the donor is a close relative of the recipient.
Apart from poverty, what’s another factor causing illegal kidney transplants in India? The answer is a mismatch between demand and supply. In India, nearly 70% of the 1.5 lakh road accident victims are brain-dead. If we’re somehow allowed to harvest their organs, the illegal kidney rackets can be eliminated. There’s one more reason behind this religion. This is because the violating body, whether living or dead, is normally forbidden in Islam. Even some Hindus are hesitant to donate their organs.
Due to this almost 1.5 lakh, people die every year while awaiting organ donation. this problem can be solved with a simple solution. In India, living donors account for nearly 88% of kidney transplants. Globally, only 365 kidney transplants are accounted to living donors. 64% of the transplants are accounted for people who’re declared brain dead. In India, the legal consent of a person is needed to harvest their organs in case they suffer brain death. India’s Illegal Kidney Trade
