An international kidney racket

An international kidney racket was busted at Mumbai by the police in January 2008. In mid-1990s, the issue of illegal and unauthorized kidney transplantations in Mumbai was raised by the Maharashtra Medical Council, and an investigation report was submitted by the council to the government for action. The kidney donors’ identities could not be ascertained. The addresses given were identical. No personal, medical records or consent papers were available. It was also noted that the hospitals where these transplants were carried out were not of any standard for conducting the surgeries. No action was taken against the urologists and nephrologists involved.

The kingpin of the racket, Santosh Raut was involved even at that point of time in the racket at Mumbai. He was once arrested, got bail and jumped the bail and vanished only to resurface as Dr. Amit Kumar in the northern state of Haryana. He also claimed that he transplanted kidneys with the consent of donors. It was reported that many foreigners were the recipients of the kidneys. He has spread his racket throughout the country and abroad (Nepal, Canada). When he was arrested at Mumbai recently, he said that he was doing social service by helping patients and in the process he is making some money. He said that he kept the records of the donors. Police have taken him into custody to verify his statements and also to arrest other medical and paramedical persons involved in the raket.

It is estimated that about 1.5 lakh patients have kidney failure every year in India. Only about 3500 receive an organ for transplantation. Similar disparity is seen in cases of other organs such as cornea, liver, etc. Virtually there are no proper donors. The so-called donors sold their organs for money. The gap between the supply and \demand is too high and hence the organ trading rackets are mushrooming everywhere. The number of donors (brain-dead and cadaver) has to be increased. There is also a need of centralized registry that can connect potential donors and recipients. Any illegal transplantation of organ should be viewed seriously and the culprits and the hospitals should be penalized severely. The offence should be made non-bailable. The general public need to be made aware of the current situation and should be encouraged for organ donation willingly.