Heena Sharma Blog

A recent page-one headline in The Hindu read: ‘In Chennai, the hearts beat for foreigners ’. Another headline announced that in Tamil Nadu, three of four donated hearts go to foreigners, provoking emotive discussions on TV. (Only the fine print in the articles explained that it was actually one out of six). These claims were moderated by the newspaper a little later, but readers probably only remember the original headlines. Of organs that are usually donated, kidneys and livers do not go to foreigners, but some hearts and lungs do – because there are not enough Indian takers. In a country of 1.3 billion, it is true that there are no suitable Indians needing a heart transplant and it is not ludicrous to claim. Ask an average heart failure patient to queue for a donated heart and the only response will be of pointing to their pocket. But aren’t there – of the 50,000 or ten lakh who need heart transplants in India – at least a few hundreds who can afford a surgery costing about...

This week, the government of Kerala announced its intention to implement mandatory requirement for brain death reporting in intensive care units of the state, de-linking it from organ donation . This was done in response to concerns raised by civil society organisations about the perception of selective brain-death declarations in order to facilitate removal and transplantation of organ to benefit a more affluent section of society who are treated in private hospitals. This is not a new concern. Last month, an enquiry instituted by the Tamil Nadu government found that organs from deceased donors were being allocated preferentially to foreign nationals, especially those from the Middle East, Central Asian republics and Africa. Especially concerning is the data on lungs and hearts: 25-33% of such organs are routinely given to foreign nationals. The reasons put forward are exhaustion of Indians on the wait list, medical non-fitness of listed Indian recipients, or refusal bec...