Posted on 12/19/2008 10:53:01 PM PST by neverdem
In a country where 300 million people live on less than a dollar a day, Amit Kumar—nicknamed “Dr. Horror” by the Indian media after his arrest last winter for heading an illicit global kidney-transplant ring—had little trouble finding homegrown organ donors. One favorite hunting ground was a strip of restaurants, shops, and hovels near an Islamic shrine, or dargah, in Mahim, a predominantly Muslim precinct of Mumbai. Devotees of the dargah, which attracts people of all faiths, donate money to restaurants to help feed the beggars who cluster there. Last June, walking past one such restaurant whose kitchen extends to the sidewalk, I saw a dozen or so men huddled within scorching distance of giant cauldrons in which meat and potatoes simmered. Expressions glazed and clothing in tatters, the men watched, motionless and silent, their patience unwavering. I felt as if I were looking at a still photo.
Kumar, who’s now on trial, has told officials that he sent his agents to offer such men anywhere from $500 to $2,500 for a kidney. Elsewhere, in the fast-growing towns of states like Haryāna and Uttar Pradesh, Kumar’s ring also went after newly arrived migrant workers seeking jobs.
Most donors were keen to trade their kidneys for cash. Some were professional blood donors, such as Mahesh, who worked at a tea stall near a century-old clock tower with a shattered dial that rises above Meerut, a city in Uttar Pradesh, near Delhi. He, in turn, told me about Shahid, a rickshaw puller who joined Kumar’s group after having made a career out of finding men who would sell their blood to nursing homes. Leveraging his knowledge of blood sellers, Shahid became one of Kumar’s most successful kidney hunters. Then there was Gyasuddin, a boyish-looking migrant worker with a shock of hair who...
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
that issue is healthcare reform.
I for one would be glad to have trained doctors, etc be able to provide transplants. Now, the insurance companies, well, our rates are so high because we provide free health care at all levels for the entitlement society and young people who don’t want to pay for health insurance.
I disagree. It's a moral issue. Why should everyone but me make money off of my kidney donation. Do you have any idea what a hospital charges an insurance company for a kidney transplant? What the doctor charges?
If it was about saving lives they would be doing it for free. It's about morality, right?
LOL Where did that come from?
Please point to where I said I was "against" transplants?
You need help. Go see a counselor to get over your grief. I had nothing to do with it.
that was uncalled for.
Please accept my sympathies for your loss.
I for one am glad we have doctors who are willing to help. We need to reform the healthcare system to avail ourselves of all possibilities.
And, his calling me a murderer was?
It's clear the man needs help. He should seek it from qualified counselors not attack anonymous people on the internet to assuage his anger/guilt.
Give it a break.
another response would have been better.
I will not. I will not allow someone to call me a murderer because he's stricken with guilt/grief.
Wow - we must run in very different circles. I see humans everywhere. I can even see Jesus in some of them.
Well, okay.
Agreed.
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