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| Officials seek probe into organ tra |
| The team found that poor donors were made to impersonate relatives of the recipients all with the connivance of many leading hospitals in Chennai
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| INDIA
, 16-January-2007
3:21:31 AM |
| Health officials in Tamil Nadu on Monday said they want a probe against leading private hospitals in Chennai and Madurai for their alleged role in forcing tsunami victims to sell their kidneys.
Organ transplant laws recognise only relatives as donors and these people have become easy prey. This was further confirmed by the findings of a fact-finding team on Monday.
The team found that poor donors were made to impersonate relatives of the recipients all with the connivance of many leading hospitals in Chennai and Madurai.
Many of the donors are women who were displaced after the 2004 tsunami and are desperate for money.
Malar, a tsunami survivor in Chennai, was promised Rs 40,000 for a kidney but got Rs 5000 less and no post operative care. The mother of four and the only earning member was taken to hospital again last month.
Trapped by debt, Malar says that for a loan of Rs 10,000, she repaid Rs 20,000. "I settled it and bought a piece of land near my mother's place," Malar said.
Poverty and unemployment
Even before the tsunami, poverty and unemployment had forced the fishing community into organ trade.
Maria Selva, the president of a tsunami colony says, "earlier one or two people sold their kidney, but now almost two people sell every week".
Poverty and unemployment had made the fishing community vulnerable to organ sale around five years ago.
After the tsunami, the authorities moved them to temporary shelters 10 km away from their seaside village, Kasimedu.
While daily travel to the harbour became expensive, the distance made the men folk lazy and many got scared of the sea.
Close to 2000 families do not have a permanent home even two years after the tsunami. While this has crippled their life, their area has turned into a bazaar for organ sale.
Although, the government has just begun to probe, these findings have exposed the darker side of hospitals, as they rob poor people of their kidneys without due compensation -
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