Kidney patients in dilemma

LUDHIANA: With Pakistan making amendments in the Human Organ Transplant Act, patients suffering from kidney-related ailments in India are reportedly in a fix.
Due to the strict stand adopted by the Indian government on the legalities pertaining to organ trade, a large number of Indians used to visit the neighbouring country for kidney transplantation.
Some of the rules prevalent in India include donors be first relatives (parents, siblings, spouse and children), matching blood group, exhaustive legal procedure etc.
However, lesser paper work and easy availability of donors was what attracted a large number of patients to Pakistan.
However, due to the amendments in rules in Pakistan, people are now being forced to look for other options.
Sources said earlier, the kidney transplant industry was booming in Pakistan. But, now, the scenario had changed to a large extent.
Discussing the issue, Ritika Jain (name changed), who underwent kidney transplant in Lahore in 2007 said, "In India, only first relatives are allowed to donate and in case of other donors, permission has to be sought. However, it was much easier to get a donor in Pakistan and procedure took a month's time."
Likewise, Dr Timothy Rajamanickam, assistant professor and acting head of nephrology department said, "People prefer to go to Pakistan as getting donors is easy and transplantation can be done in a months' time." Echoing a similar view, Dr Rahul Kohli, nephrologist at Apollo said, "The scenario has changed after the Pakistani government changed rules. Earlier, lesser legal formalities and easy availability donors attracted people to Pakistan."
Alarming:
Around three to four lakh people are detected with kidney ailments every year and many lose their lives due to non-availability of matching group of kidneys.
Around five lakh patients visit the hospital at the end stage, commonly called 'chronic kidney disorder'.
Hardly 50,000 take dialysis, while only 2000 to 3000 transplants are conducte