By MM Special Correspondent,

New Delhi: Close on the heels of Dalit research scholar’s suicide in Hyderabad, a leading English newspaper today carried a sensational story that ‘an IIT pupil tried to sell kidney to repay loan, but no takers for ‘dalit organ’. This story amply highlighted that even today deep-rooted caste prejudices run-deep into the veins of Modern India which has been vying for a place under the sun.

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According to The Times of India, an aspiring engineer from IIT-BHU Mahesh Balmiki, a second-year student of mining, mulled some desperate measures to pay off an Rs 2.7-lakh loan he had taken for his studies. “There was a lot of pressure. Due to my prolonged illness, I had to incur expenses for my treatment and couldn’t give back the loan I took for my studies.

Short of options, Mahesh even began a search for a buyer for one of his kidneys. But he later told some friends that in the thriving black market for kidneys, people first asked a donor’s caste. ”

However, sensing the immense damage to the medical profession, nephrologists were quick to rubbish the report published in the paper arguing that no individual in India could sell his or her organ for getting money.

Dr. Jitendra Kumar, chief kidney transplant surgeon at Asian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Dr. Sanjeev Gulati, Secretary of Delhi Nephrology society (DNS) and Dr. Sandeep Mahajan, Senior Nephrologist at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said on Saturday that it was not possible for any citizen of India to sell his or her kidney whether he or she is Hindu or Muslim or whether he or she belongs to an upper cast or a lower cast.

According to Organ Transplant Laws, no money exchange between the donor and the recipient is allowed and only close relatives of the recipient like siblings, parents, children and spouse could donate the organ, so it is not wise for any citizen of India to sell his kidney, said Dr. Jitendra Kumar, Director of Nephrology and Kidney Transplant Medicine at Asian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS)
Mahesh even claimed that he visited around five hospitals in Varanasi and Alwar but doctors there informed him that no one would take his kidney because he was a dalit.

Reacting to his claim, Dr. Jitendra Kumar said that in Varanasi and Alwar, kidney transplant facility may not even be available in private setup.

“So authenticity of this claim is under query. Moreover we routinely use blood transfusions from human donors. While accepting such blood products we do not come across denial by recipients based on grounds of cast and religion,” he added.

Such news reports without proper research are likely to convey a wrong message about the medical profession which neither allows organ sale nor does discriminate its patients on religious and caste grounds, said Dr. Sandeep Mahajan.

“As per the Transplantation of Human Organ Act-1994, there is provision for punishment for commercial dealing in Human Organ. As per chapter – 6 (offences and penalties) of Organ Transplantation Act-1994, no one should publish or distribute of causes to be published or distributed any advertisement inviting person to supply for payment of any human organ offering to supply any human organ for payment shall be punishable under the Human Organ Transplantation Act-1994. Hence it is not possible for any person to sale his or her kidney not because of his caste or religion but because of Law”, said Dr. Sanjeev Gulati.