Illegal organ transplants in Tamil Nadu
	Chennai:Ninety per cent of kidney transplants in Tamil Nadu are illegal, the state's health secretary has indicated. Survivors of the tsunami recently revealed they were among illegal donors because of poverty. "They come from the lowest rungs - from below the poverty line and 90 per cent of the donors donated only for money, for settling the debts of the family," health and family welfare secretary VK Subburaj said. The Transplantation of Human Organs Act does not allow the sale of organs. Donors can be either immediate blood relatives or a spouse or a person emotionally attached to the recipient. Clause change But abusing the last clause of emotional attachment, brokers have lured poor people before an unquestioning authorization committee to get the transaction white-washed. Victims speak of the complicity of doctors, hospitals and touts in the racket. At a government-sponsored meeting doctors recommend removal of the emotional attachment clause and allow donors to receive payment but the government seems opposed to the idea. Health Minister KKSS Ramachandran says, "in a democratic country like ours buying organs for money is not that easy". There are two schools of thought now - one to free up the system instead of driving it underground and the other to introduce more controls.