ATTITUDES OF COMMERCIAL RENAL-TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS TOWARD RENAL-TRANSPLANTATION IN INDIA

Renal transplantation offers patients with end-stage renal disease the best opportunity for rehabilitation and long-term survival. However, there is a critical shortage of transplantable kidneys worldwide. This plays well into the hands of transplanters and entrepreneurs involved in commercial renal transplantation, particularly in India. This prac tice has been condemned by all transplant societies. In our fight agai nst rampant commercialism in renal transplantation, we sought to descr ibe feelings of patients who had received transplants in India, and th e difficulties they faced during their stay there. The results show th at the two reasons that motivated patients to go to India were lack of living-related donors and the need for prompt transplant. More than h alf of the patients did not meet their donors. Their experience, howev er, has been largely positive except for some negative feelings toward the broker and the standard of hospital hygiene. The total cost of th e transplant was far less than that in the West but, despite that, som e patients felt financially exploited. Communication with them was poo r, as most patients did not get adequate pretransplant education and w ere not informed of possible complications including rejection and gra ft loss. Furthermore, almost half of the patients were not given medic al reports. These results substantiate the impression that CRT in Indi a does not conform to the high standards of renal transplant medicine.