Muhammad Adil has heard about the Gurgaon organ racket. He has heard about a group of doctors who supplied kidneys on demand. He knows that’s not an option as he stares at the whitewashed walls of Gangaram Hospital, a long needle in his arm pumping blood to the dialysis machine for four hours, three times a week. His wait for a kidney is an agonising one.

His life turned upside down when a doctor in Muzaffarpur first told him his kidneys were no longer working. After several rounds of quacks and a fast-deteriorating condition, his family rented a room in Delhi and began his dialysis at Gangaram Hospital. The only way out of this painful weekly procedure is a kidney transplant.

“I had plans of coming to Delhi for a computer course after my graduation. I had no idea I would be here so soon,” says 20-year-old Adil. He hopes a match is found within his extended family in West Champaran. His relatives have pitched in, financially: Rs 5 lakh has already been spent as hospital expenses. The chance of finding a kidney outside the family is remote.

As the Gurgaon racket turns the spotlight on the thriving organ bazaar in the country, doctors believe that what fuels this is the yawning gap between demand and supply.

There are no official figures — in the absence of a national registry — but experts and medical associations estimate that each year, there are 1.5 lakh patients waiting for a kidney transplant. Of these, barely 3,500 get kidney transplants. There are an estimated 400,000 waiting for heart, liver and cornea transplants.

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