NEW DELHI: It appears that the trade in illegal organ transplants is a thriving one in the subcontinent. In a disturbing trend, several hospitals in Delhi have complained about Indian patients going to Pakistan for kidney transplants and returning with severe complications.

"The trend

Dr Kher added that six patients came in a critical state. Out of the six, two were from Delhi, two from Punjab and two from Uttaranchal. Two of them later died due to complications.

According to reports in the foreign media, many patients make their way into Pakistan as the country offers a "cheap kidney bazaar." There too, incidents of kidney selling by the poor are rampant, and as a result, transplant tourism is a thriving trade.

Fortis Hospital sources added that most patients from India didn't even know whose kidney they had received in Pakistan. "Kidney transplants are done only after a cross-match test confirms that the recipient can take the donor's kidney. Else, the body rejects the kidney. Over 1,20,000 people suffer renal failure in India every year, however, not more than 4,000 transplants are done. The gap is huge, and everyday there are tens who die of renal failure," added Dr Kher.

Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the Capital also reported a similar trend. "In the past two years, I must have seen around 15 patients who returned with complications after having undergone a kidney transplant in Pakistan. Some patients come back with infection, pus, surgical complications and even with kidney rejection. In certain cases I had to remove the kidney of the patient upon their return," said Dr Harsha Jauhari, chairman, transplant surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Dr Jauhari added that a transplant in Pakistan also costs a lot more than it does in India. "Whereas in India it turns out to be around Rs 3.5 lakh, in Pakistan it's almost double the amount," he said.

Dr Sandeep Guleria of AIIMS reiterated the point made by Jauhari. Most medical complications according to him arose because the patients were discharged within days of the transplant as visa restrictions wouldn't allow them to stay for long.

"As they don't get time to recuperate, they fall prey to infections. Besides, till now there was an absence of an act in Pakistan which could perhaps do what Human Organs Transplant Act has done for India. However, apparently a similar legislation was passed recently and all transplants will have to be authorised now," said Dr Guleria. He added that not all cases developed complications.