Dr. Lloyd Vincent, Head of the department of Nephrology, St.John’s Medical College Hospital, Bangalore was horrified to find out that several of his patients who were undergoing dialysis and awaiting kidney transplantation had been approached by agents offering to procure a donor for an exorbitant price. These agents had the audacity to actually carry out their operations through telephone booths within the premises of several hospitals, St. John’s being one of them. This illegal kidney network is so well co-ordinate that there has been a huge growth in the kidney trade in Bangalore.

Dr. Vincent wrote a letter to the Health Task Force, headed by Dr.H. Sudsrdhan, giving details of the touts who were operating out of the St. John’s hospital campus. Acting on this information, the police arrested the kidney dealer. Kidney are apparently being sold for Rs.75,000 to Rs. 85,000 according to a Bangalore city newspaper reporter who went undercover and managed to make contact with the network involved in the kidney trade. The auto rickshaw drivers are the first contact. They, then contact the kidney dealers who have an extensive network of donors from Salem, Hosur and Krishnagiri. The dealers are very confident of getting the donors approved by the Authorization Committee set up specifically to screen unrelated living donors for commercial dealings. This is probably because background checks on donors are hardly ever done and the donor’s word is usually enough to obtain clearance. What do the transplant surgeons who do the kidney transplant have to say about this? According to one section, their duty is to conduct transplantation and that it is impossible for them to know whether the recipient had paid the donor. It is for the Authorization Committee to verify these facts and they do not conduct an unrelated transplant without the Committee’s approval. They emphasized the fact that if they got a written complaint regarding the authenticity of a donor, they would inform the Authorization Committee. They do feel, however, that living unrelated organ donation must be an option for patients with renal failure as there are not enough dialysis machines and skilled technical personnel to treat such patients on a long-term basis. On the other hand, Dr. Sudarshan, Chief of the Health Task Force feels that unless there is a scrapping of the clause in the Transplantation of Human Organs Act that permits unrelated living donation, this kind of illegal kidney trade will never completely die out.