Illegal kidney trade flourishes in Chennai

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Chennai: Over 500 people from 10 villages around Vizhuppuram have have sold their kidneys in violation of the law, risking their lives for just Rs 25,000.

Many of them had gone to Chennai to work as labourers, but they were lured by the promise of quick money made by kidney brokers.

A kidney donor, Anbukannu says, "I am a widow with two daughters. I sold my kidney to marry one of them off. The other is unmarried. I have not been able to work since the operation. How will I marry my second daughter off? We don't even have food in the house."

But often the payoff comes with severe health problems.

Another kidney donor, Ramayee says, "Since the operation, I have not been able to use my leg. There are blood clots in my knees. I have terrible backaches if I don't take medicine. If I do take medicine, my stomach hurts. I can't work anymore."

Chennai, with good healthcare facilities, had become a popular destination for patients from across the country, but over the last 20 years, illegal trade of kidneys has flourished in the city.

In the last five years, the government committee that regulates donation of kidneys approved just 500 transplants, but sources in the government say thousands of transplants have been done illegally. And it's a netwrok hard to crack.

Editor Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, Dr George Thomas says, "There are touts everywhere — autorickshaw drivers in railway stations and airports — who target people coming from across the country and act as brokers for kidneys."

In 2007, tsunami victims in need of money fell prey to the kidney racket for paltry sums. The Tamil Nadu government had then suspended authorisation licences of 15 out of the 54 hospitals in Chennai allowed to carry out kidney transplants. Now all of them have been reinstated and the trade of kidneys continues as usual.