sordid sale of persons willing to sell Organs ... !

We often read about ‘Green corridors’ being created for speedy transportation of human organs intended to save patients.  The film ChennaiyilOruNaal (English: A day in Chennai)  - a thriller that intertwines multiple stories around one particular incident, inspired from an actual event that happened in Chennai.  It centered around the tragic accidental death of a youth, who is brain dead and the great deed of the parents who at the time of extreme sorrow decided to take him off the ventilator and donate the organs for the benefit of other sufferers……..

Do read about this photo at the end …… Salutes to this great person !!

Sadly, Organ sale and exploitation of poor appears prevalent.  Here is a recent report that appeared in Times of India titled - Requests of `take organ, give money' put TN registry in fix. 

Sir, I want sell my kidney. I am a 37-year old married woman ... I have no money for my son's studies and I have family problems. So can you help me sir? It's very urgent ... My blood group is B positive. That's from an email sent to transplant surgeons in Chennai on May 25. Many surgeons and organizations, including the state cadaver transplant authority, have been receiving such `requests' for illegal organ trade in the last few weeks.

According to the Transplant of Human Organs Act and Rules, 1994, anyone caught buying or selling organs face a jail term of up to seven years, with or without a fine of Rs. 20,000. But desperation, more than ignorance, is driving many people to break the law, especially during the college admission season. Dr Sunil Shroff, who heads MOHAN Foundation, a non-government organization that campaigns for cadaver donations, says the emails are a new trend.“Higher education is so expensive and parents get desperate. These are people who are illiterate or very poor. Earlier most people who offered to sell organs (through middlemen) were below poverty line, trying to repay loans or marry off their daughters,“ he said.

These mails, doctors say, will subside once the college admissions are over, but people may continue to email them for other reasons. They leave phone numbers and expect a call. Like this one received by organ registry: “Sir, I like to sell my kidney to anyone because of my family situation. Feel free to contact 09*********.“ Some transplant surgeons say that they dread to think what would happen if these people contact organ brokers. Officials at the state transplant registry say that they have been receiving at least one email every two days.“We call and counsel every person who mails us. We tell them it is illegal to offer organs for sale. We also talk to them about the medical complications,“ says Dr J Amalorpavanathan, who heads the state cadaver transplant authority.

As a long term plan, the authority is planning a series of awareness of programmes on benefits of cadaver donations and the need to stop trafficking.The state authority will also network with NGOs, doctors, hospitals and police to stop the illegal trade. “People approach brokers only when the organ isn't available. Once we increase cadaver donations, people will not go to the black market. It's a long process, but an achievable one,“ he said.Sad state of affairs, indeed.

KaakiSattai ~ not to be confused with Kamal Sathyaraj starrer of yesteryears directed by R. S. DuraiSenthilkumarfeatured Sivakarthikeyan and Sri Divya in the lead roles with music by AnirudhRavichander. Before that do you remember ‘Dharma Yuddham’ the Rajnikanth starrer and the famous ‘pairs of black roses’ ??..... the hero in KaakiSattai is a police constable; heroine,  a nurse in a hospital, around which the whole plot runs. From a simple Cop, the hero stumbles on illegal organ donation racket orchestrated by a politician, whose people capture sick and injured migrant workers from North eastern States,  make them brain dead by administering them carbon monoxide instead of oxygen and then harvest their organs which they sell abroad for huge amounts of money. 

Sometime back, there were reports on the lengths to which human traffickers will go to make money from their vile trade. The reported incident was about a boy aged between 12 and 15 and the other a woman in her 30s, thought to have started their journey in Africa or Asia and to have been rescued by British police or immigration officials who suspected they were being trafficked. Such cases are rare, but expose what charities and campaign groups suspect is a little-known aspect of international people-smuggling. The first incident of illegal ‘organ harvesting’ in Britain was reported in 2011. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as many as 7,000 kidneys are illegally obtained by gangs each year around the world. While there is a black market for hearts, lungs and livers, kidneys are the most sought-after organs because one can be removed from a patient without serious ill-effects. Organised criminal gangs run more than 13,000 slaves in Britain, says government regulator.  Globally, at least 200,000 people are on waiting lists for kidneys, and many more have no access to transplantation or dialysis services. One of the worst cases uncovered so far was in the former Yugoslav republic of Kosovo, where five men were convicted in 2013 of involvement in an organ-trafficking ring that performed at least 24 illegal kidney transplants at a clinic on the outskirts of the capital, Pristina.

In India, we have ‘Indian transplant registry’ by the  efforts of the Indian Society of Organ Transplantation. The purpose of National Transplant Registry is to collect transplant related data from various centres in the country and to be able to collate the data from time to time to derive the following information.  Those requiring transplant are required to register on the website.

In Sept. 2008, tragedy befell on a Doctor couple, Dr. Ashokan and Dr. Pushpanjali, popular doctors in Thirukazhukundram- as they lost their beloved son Hithendran, aged 15, in a motor-bike accident.  They had earned a good name arising out of their kindness and helping nature – still – the unbearable tragedy. Quite unfortunately that day, the boy was not wearing a helmet and was riding a bike – met with a tragic road accident, sustained grievous head injuries and was moved to Chennai for treatment. The boy was brain dead with other organs functioning.  After battling a couple of days, there was no improvement – the doctor couple took an extremely courageous decision of donating all functioning organs of their son including heart, liver, kidney, corneas and bone marrows to different hospitals in the city.

Here is the  family photo of Dr Ashokan and Dr (Mrs) Pushpanjali….. in my  blog post, Dr Ashokan had commented -  Just went through your article , nice, surely people will be inspired reading this and my humble request to all those who read this article is, never allow your minor children to use two wheeler and if at all they attain the age of 18 let them use their two wheeler with caution. Let them not forget to wear their Helmet. Organ donation of your loved ones during unfortunate circumstances like my son Hithendran is the only way you can make the person live again and it is a Nobel gesture saving six lives.. My son still lives. Please don't think that "ORGAN DONATION AS GIVING UP PART OF YOURSELF TO KEEP A TOTAL STRANGER ALIVE, IT IS A TOTAL STRANGER GIVING UP ALMOST ALL OF THEMSELVES TO KEEP PART OF YOU ALIVE." Let us support Organ donation Blood donation and Eye donation. regards. Dr.Ashokan. (Hithendran's father)

See : http://www.sampspeak.in/2013/09/a-day-in-chennai-coimbatore-brave-act.html

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

18^th Jun 2015.