Demand-supply gap fuelling organ racket

The Maharashtra police's recent unmasking of a kidney trafficking racket with international links is yet another reminder of how sophisticated - and brazen - India's illegal organ trade has become. A Delhi-based doctor has been arrested, a Trichy doctor is on the run, and the economics of the crime are familiar: recipients allegedly paid up to ₹80 lakh per kidney, while donors received barely ₹5 lakh. This is not an aberration. Just last year, Delhi Police busted an eight-member gang that ran illegal transplants across five states for nearly six years, exploiting hospital networks to seamlessly match donors and recipients.

India is globally celebrated as a hub for organ transplants. But beneath this reputation lies a parallel system sustained by fake family trees, fabricated diagnostic reports and pliant oversight. Nearly three decades after the law banning organ trade came into force, such rackets continue to thrive. At the heart of it lies a chronic organ shortage. A 2023 estimate published in International Journal of General Medicine suggests India needs over 2.5 lakh organs annually but performs only a fraction of these transplants. In a poverty-stricken country, this shortage, which, however, has not deterred private hospitals from courting foreign patients, creates a lethal cocktail: desperation on one side, profit on the other.

The only durable solution lies in expanding cadaver donations through sustained counselling and public trust. Yet, religious beliefs and personal anxieties have stalled progress. Calls to better ring-fence donors through state-backed insurance are gaining ground. But until the system protects the vulnerable as fiercely as it serves the wealthy, organ trafficking will remain not a crime in the shadows, but a business hiding in plain sight.