Originally published September 23 2008
Kidneys Surgically Stolen from India's Poor in Kidney Transplant Racket
by David Gutierrez, staff writer
(NaturalNews) Indian police have raided a clinic where a team of doctors ran an illegal kidney-trading ring - removing kidneys from the poor, often by force, in order to sell them to wealthy locals or foreigners.
"We suspect around 400 or 500 kidney transplants were done by these doctors over the last nine years," said Mohinder Lal, the police commissioner of Gurgaon, where the clinic was located.
Lal said that four doctors, five nurses, 20 paramedics, 10 pathology clinics, five diagnostic centers and three private hospitals were involved in removing and transplanting the kidneys and covertly caring for many of the donors afterward.
In addition, the medical professionals employed a team of kidney scouts to recruit donors from labor markets. In many cases, poor Indians were offered $1,000 to $2,000 for a kidney, and tested on location by a specially equipped car to see if their kidneys were a match for any prospective clients.
Other donors were promised work, then driven to remote locations where they were held at gunpoint, drugged, and operated on.
Forced donor Naseem Mohammed said he was confined in a room with a number of other people. "When I asked why I had been locked inside, the guards slapped me and said they would shoot me if I asked any more questions. They told us not to speak to each other or we would pay with our lives," he said. Shakeel Ahmed, another forced donor, said the guards told him he would be shot if he ever told anyone what had happened to him.
Forced donors were not given any postoperative care or financial reimbursement.
The doctor in charge of the conspiracy has still not been captured. Known as Amit Kumar, this doctor was arrested in 1994 on suspicion of running a kidney transplant ring, but jumped bail and relocated. Apparently tipped off ahead of time, he also fled ahead of the recent raid.
Five foreigners, from Greece and the United States, were discovered in the clinic when it was raided, but were released without charge due to lack of sufficient evidence against them.
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