Police uncover large scale organ trafficking in Punjab

doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7382.180/b

BMJ 2003;326:180 ( 25 January )

News

Police uncover large scale organ trafficking in Punjab

Sanjay Kumar, New Delhi
The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The police in Amritsar city in Punjab state, northern India, have unearthed what they call "the mother of all scandals inhuman organ trafficking inIndia."

The police have arrested several doctors, middlemen, and donors, including the alleged main player $---$ transplant surgeon Dr ParveenKumar Sareen, who works for Kakkar Hospital, which is run by aprivate charitable trust. Also arrested was Dr O P Mahajan, principalof the Government Medical College and chairman of the authorisationcommittee that certifies that no commercial transaction has takenplace.

Police officials believe that 1.5 billion rupees (£19.4m; $31.4m; 29.4m) changed hands between the doctors, middlemen, andthe donors from 1997 to2002.

The Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994 allows donation of organs between relatives but prohibits any monetary benefitsto the donor. It also allows donation of organs (also withoutmonetary benefit) between unrelated donors if this arises fromlove and affection for the . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

Kishore, R R (2005). Human organs, scarcities, and sale: morality revisited. J. Med. Ethics 31: 362-365 [Abstract] [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

trade in human organs: dr.manan vasenwala
bmj.com, 28 Jan 2003 [Full text]
Punjab organ trafficking scandal et al - Prevention strategies: Garga Chatterjee
bmj.com, 12 Feb 2003 [Full text]
Re: trade in human organs: Rahul Mukherjee
bmj.com, 9 Jun 2003 [Full text]