Poverty's curse: Kidney scam exposed

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Namakkal - a non descript villed in rural Tamil Nadu is the hotbed of a thriving kidney racket. As TIMES NOW travelled to this village to investigate the scam, it revealed that the unemployed in the village have become eary targets for the touts.

The brokers tell us that they make anything from over 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh for one 'deal'.

"The brokers are handed over 1,20,000 to 1,30,000. Of which we take anywhere between 7000 to 10000 each. Then there are expenses to be paid to government officials for some certificates. Rest is given to dono," a kidney broker said.

More shockingly, the doner is totally in the dark about the money exchanging hands in the racket.

"They will never know. They will normally ask the donor if you took money. If they get a whiff of money, they will reject it. The donor will say there is no money involved and claim it's a willing donation."

"Its (the money) is split equally between us. If it's 10000 rs, we take 5,000 each," he explained.

Namakkal once had a thriving powerloom industry, but with the slowdown forcing many powerlooms to shut down, those left unemployed have become easy targets for the brokers. Mounting debts and fewer employment options have forced healthy men to resort to selling their kidneys.

Deperate to pay off the debts, Shekhar, a kidney doner said, he had no other way.

"I could not manage my debts and I had no other way...then the broker took me to Coimbator and they took care of everything. They even got my blood checks and tests done."

Mohanraj, another kidney doner said, the broker asks them to keep mum about the money involved. "The broker took me to Madras and told me to say that I was donating to someone and not selling; and that I will get money for it.

Kidney scams like this have been reported earlier too, especially, after disasters that have wiped away jobs and savings of people, forcing them into the hands of mafias running illegal kidney rackets.

Many major hospitals are also alleged to be in the know of spurious kidney rackets like these. With the demand for kidneys steadily rising, uneducated and impoverished men have become gullible victims.

By Dhanya Rajendran and Dakshina Muralitharan