'People unaware that sale of organs is illegal'

The family members of a person suffering from kidney failure or any other organ failure are often found searching for donors and are willing to pay huge amounts for the organs.
The Bangalore Kidney Foundation (BKF) receives many calls everyday enquiring about kidneys for sale. MVN Raj, director of BKF, said that people were misinformed about the 'organ trade' in India.

“I get calls from individuals who are either willing to sell their kidney or willing to buy one.” For those who want to “sell their kidney,” the reason is “debts”. “In many cases, women venture to sell their kidney either to clear their or their husband’s debts. Many young women call up the centre and offer their kidneys for sale to avoid harassments from moneylenders,” he added.

Organ donation

Raj said although there were many organisations spreading awareness about organ donation, people were still clueless about the entire procedure.

Pledging one’s organs and keeping the pledge card in the wallet is not good enough if your family is not aware of your intentions.

“Even though a person has pledged his organs, many times the family members are not willing to donate them,” he said.

It is sad that the State and the Central Government have not even thought of issuing advertisements to create awareness about the procedure of organ donation, he added.
It is very important to understand that one can donate organs only in a ‘brain dead’ condition. However, only eyes can be donated after the death of a person.

Zonal Coordinating Committee of Karnataka for Transplantation (ZCCK) is the State government agency which registers names of people seeking organs for transplantation and alerts them about ‘brain dead’ cases.

According to the organ donation network in India, nearly 66 percent of renal failure occurs due to diabetes and over 7.85 million people in India suffer from chronic kidney disesase (CKD). At present, the approximate prevalence of CKD is 800 per million population and the incidence of end-stage kidney disease is 150-200 per million population. Nearly, 3,500 transplants are done annually as against the need of 2,10,000 transplants.

In order to create awareness, Gift Your Organ Foundation had organised ‘Walk the Green Carpet’ on Sunday to mark the International Organ Donation Day. The occasion saw people pledge their organs.

Contact here

To know about procedure for organ donation and transplantation, contact ZCCK on 26995716 or 9845006768. Mohan Foundation runs 24/7 helpline 09886660734 to provide all details about organ donation.