Hot Spots

India

• Compensated Gifting-Softer forms of (living) organ sales
  
  Between 1984-1988 130 patients from the United Arab Emirates purchased new kidneys from living persons for a price ranging between 2,600 US$ and 3,300 US$. (A. Al-Kkhader et al "Living non-related kidney transplantation in Bombay," in Lancet October 20, 1990, 336 (8721), p1002. And A.S. Mohamed and N. Velasco, "Kidneys for sale," ivi, December 1, 1990, 336 (8727). Indian doctor Vijay Kaushik reported in 1992 that a group of doctors, hospital directors, and government funcionarios collected and sold kidneys and corneas of lepers at the Central Jalma Institute for Leprosy in the city of Agra. (V. Kaushik, "Specific features of informed consent in developing nations," Bioethics and cultures colloquy, Budapest, December 11-12, 1992, p 5 (mimiograph). In a period of three years in the late 1980s, 2,000 kidneys were removed and sold. (Sanita: "Trapianti: in India 2,000 reni venduti in tre anni," Ansa, july 5, 1991 In some villages in the state of Tamil Nadu one in ten young villagers (75% women, 25% men) had had a kidney extracted. Sometimes payments promised were never made. (E. Mo, "India, il gran bazar di reni," Corriere della Sera, March 11, 1996, p8.
  
  1994 law criminalizes organ sales but the law allowed for "unrelated kidney sales", a loophole that has led to corruption. Most kidney sellers are women