Kidneys For Sale

The Police in Sri Lanka say they are ready to assist India investigate an alleged kidney racket which the Indian Police says involves Sri Lanka. However, so far a formal request for assistance has not been made by their counterparts in Hyderabad.

Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that while there are reports that the Indian Police are considering sending a team to Sri Lanka to investigate the alleged racket, the Sri Lankan Police have not been approached for assistance.
“The Sri Lankan Police is ready to offer its fullest cooperation,” the Police Spokesman said.

He also said that anyone can donate a kidney to another person but if someone is duped into selling a kidney then legal action can be taken under local laws.

SSP Ajith Rohana however said that so far the police have not received any complaint about kidney’s being sold in Sri Lanka but they are monitoring the media reports on the alleged racket.

Indian Police investigating the kidney racket involving Sri Lanka had said that they had found that 21 people had sold their kidneys in Sri Lanka to a local doctor. The Indian Police did not name the doctor and declined to do so – a number of local healthcare institutions maintained that their services were health related and not ‘related to trading in kidneys’. One was firm, saying, “we have absolutely no knowledge of the trading in kidneys as alleged by the authorities in another territory”.

The Times of India reported that three suspects arrested by the Indian Central Crime Station (CCS) Police in the international kidney trafficking case have reportedly sold 21 kidneys in Colombo (Sri Lanka) in the past few months. The Hyderabad police have alerted the Indian High Commission in Colombo about the racket and a special team of CCS will leave for the island nation to further investigate the case.

The CCS investigators have arrested N. Venkatesham, 38, from Chityal in Nalgonda district, D. Shanmukha Pavan Srinivas, 25, an MBA student from BN Reddy Nagar in Vanasthalipuram, and Govind Suryanarayana alias Surya alias Suresh, 29, from Vijayawada.

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad this week, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma said the trio had sold their own kidneys in the past and in the process, they made contact with doctors in Sri Lanka, who carry out kidney transplants, and then became local agents in Andhra Pradesh to earn easy money. “For supplying a kidney donor, the agents received between Indian Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh,” Anurag Sharma said.

The agents would collect the donors’ details from internet postings at ineedakidneynow.org and www.experienceproject.com and, after obtaining their willingness to donate their kidneys, the culprits would alert the Lankan doctors.

Once the doctor gave the green light, the agents would make the donor go through basic tests in Andhra Pradesh and, if everything was satisfactory, they would buy to and fro air tickets for the donor and send him or her to Colombo.

However medical sources in Sri Lanka described this assertion as “simplistic”. Doctors in Sri Lanka would only remove a kidney where the donor was willing and able to withstand the removal. Medical staff and hospitals in Sri Lanka would not play a role in any so called “transaction” involving trading in body parts including kidneys.

Notwithstanding the denials and the position maintained by the medical fraternity in Sri Lanka and those of the Hyderabad Police Chief, trading in kidneys is said to be a rather robust business.

Reports from the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia indicate that a niche market exists and opportunities have been created for de-facto agents to scour South Asian nations like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for possible donors. Says a source on condition of anonymity, “The poverty levels in these countries makes the life of agents that much easier”.

Detection is difficult as it would depend on the circumstances leading to the donation of the organ. Our source adds: “Without a willing partner the transaction will not happen. It is unlikely that willing donors who have been paid will make statements against others especially when consent documentation would definitely been in place.”