Large number of Indian patients are moving out of the country to destinations like Pakistan, Bangladesh , Singapore and even to Europe for donor organs and transplant surgeries on account of the alleged 'impractical' human organ transplantation rules framed under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994.
It is surprisingly taking place when the Union Ministry of Tourism is selling India as a destination for world-class medical treatment at immensely competitive costs and also when the high quality organ transplantation facilities and medical expertise in the country lying under-utilized.
According to patients who have recently undergone kidney transplantation in neighbouring countries, there is no other option other than apply for medical visa to these countries if they need to get treated. "To get a donor kidney in India is almost impossible today. The rules are such that we cannot even think about it", they say. The destinations are chosen as per the paying capacity of the patient. While Bangladesh is known to be the cheapest destination, Singapore or European countries offer more expensive options. However, the patients who travel to SAARC nations are not completely satisfied. "Our country has the most advanced transplantation technology and the best medical teams. The surgery and the post-surgery care here are far superior to what offered by the neighbouring countries. Still we have no option other than take the risk," they say.
According to medical experts, one tenth of the Indian population has kidney problem due to the varied reasons like close community marriage, sedentary life style, hypertension, diabetes, food habits etc. About 1.5 lakh end stage kidney patients are being added every year, they point out. While most of the end stage patients, or all of them, can benefit from kidney transplantations, not more than 2500 kidney transplantations take place in a year.
The situation is much grave if the total organ transplantations that are needed in India every year are taken into consideration. As against the 4.5 lakh patients that require organ transplants annually, only 35,000 organ transplants have taken place in our country in last 10 years. At any point of time, 10 lakh cornea blind patients are there in queue for donor corneas, it is learnt. The number of cadaver organ transplantation other than cornea taken place during the last 10 years is known to be just 800.
On the one hand, the number of organ transplantations taking place in the country are either stagnant, or on the decline. On the other, the number of deaths happening due to the absence of timely transplant surgeries is on the rise. On an average 3,000 persons are dying every year just because they are unable to have timely organ transplant surgeries done, doctors say. "During the last five years, no new persons entered into transplant surgery," Dr Harsha Jauhari, Senior Consultant and Transplant Surgeon, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said.
All eyes are on the proposed amendment being worked out by the central government. The amendment to the transplantation rules Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 may allow one-time donation of organs by even un-related patient.
Meanwhile, the Indian Health Care Foundation (IHCF) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has brought out brochures and promotional films depicting the highlights of the various treatments offered by the Indian hospitals in different specialities. According to them, medical tourism market in India is estimated to be worth over US $ 300 million with about 150,000 foreign patients coming in every year. It is expected to grow into a US $ 2 billion business by 2012, they point out.