KIDNEYS SURGICALLY STOLEN FROM INDIA'S POOR IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANT RACKET
Indian police have raided a clinic where a team of doctors ran an illegal kidney-trading ring - removing kidneys from the poor, often by force, in order to sell them to wealthy locals or foreigners.
"We suspect around 400 or 500 kidney transplants were done by these doctors over the last nine years," said Mohinder Lal, the police commissioner of Gurgaon, where the clinic was located.
Lal said that four doctors, five nurses, 20 paramedics, 10 pathology clinics, five diagnostic centers and three private hospitals were involved in removing and transplanting the kidneys and covertly caring for many of the donors afterward.
In addition, the medical professionals employed a team of kidney scouts to recruit donors from labor markets. In many cases, poor Indians were offered $1,000 to $2,000 for a kidney, and tested on location by a specially equipped car to see if their kidneys were a match for any prospective clients.
Other donors were promised work, then driven to remote locations where they were held at gunpoint, drugged, and operated on.
MORE:
http://www.naturalnews.com/024288.html
KIDNEY THEFTS SHOCK INDIA
As the anesthetic wore off, Naseem Mohammed said, he felt an acute pain in the lower left side of his abdomen. Fighting drowsiness, he fumbled beneath the unfamiliar folds of a green medical gown and traced his fingers over a bandage attached with surgical tape. An armed guard by the door told him that his kidney had been removed.
Mr. Mohammed was the last of about 500 Indians whose kidneys were removed by a team of doctors running an illegal transplant operation, supplying kidneys to rich Indians and foreigners, police officials said. A few hours after his operation last Thursday, the police raided the clinic and moved him to a government hospital.
Many of the donors were day laborers, like Mr. Mohammed, picked up from the streets with the offer of work, driven to a well-equipped private clinic, and duped or forced at
gunpoint to undergo operations. Others were bicycle rickshaw drivers and impoverished farmers who were persuaded to sell their organs, which is illegal in India.
Although several kidney rings have been exposed in India in recent years, the police said the scale of this one was unprecedented. Four doctors, five nurses, 20 paramedics, three private hospitals, 10 pathology clinics and five diagnostic centers were involved, Mohinder Lal, the police officer in charge of the investigation, said.
“We suspect around 400 or 500 kidney transplants were done by these doctors over the last nine years,” said Mr. Lal, the Gurgaon police commissioner.
MORE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/world/asia/30kidney.html
For years, India has been known as a "warehouse for kidneys" or
a "great organ bazaar" and has become one of the largest centers
for kidney transplants in the world, offering low costs and
almost immediate availability. In a country where one person out
of every three lives in poverty, a huge transplant industry arose
after drugs were developed in the 1970's to control the body's
rejection of foreign objects. Renal transplants became common in
India about thirteen years ago when the anti-rejection drug
cyclosporine became available locally. The use of powerful
immuno-suppressant drugs and new surgical techniques has
indirectly boosted the kidney transplant activities. The
dramatic success rates of operations, India's lack of medical
regulations and an atmosphere of "loose medical ethics" has also
fueled the kidney transplant growth. The result has been that
"supply and demand created a marriage of unequals , wedding
wealthy but desperate people dependent on dialysis machines to
those in India grounded down by the hopelessness of
poverty"(Max). The pace of demand for kidneys hasn't kept up
with the demand. Consequently, the poor and destitute, victims
of poverty, have either willingly sold their kidneys to pay for
a daughter's dowry, build a small house or to feed their families
or have been duped or conned into giving up their kidneys
unknowingly or for very little sums of money. Ironically,
medical technology meant to advance and save human lives has been
abused to such lengths, that in some cases, it has resulted in
the death of innocent individuals.
http://www.american.edu/TED/KIDNEY.HTM