This is a story that could happen only in India.

Apparently, 500 poor people in the North Indian city of Gurgaon have lost their kidneys to an unscrupulous gang of greedy doctors who removed the kidneys and sold them to rich Indians and foreigners.

Describing the literal theft of the kidneys of poor folks, the New York Times writes:

Although several kidney rings have been exposed in India in recent years, the police said the scale of this one was unprecedented. Four doctors, five nurses, 20 paramedics, three private hospitals, 10 pathology clinics and five diagnostic centers were involved, Mohinder Lal, the police officer in charge of the investigation, said.

“We suspect around 400 or 500 kidney transplants were done by these doctors over the last nine years,” said Mr. Lal, the Gurgaon police commissioner.

Sadly, the latest Gurgaon kidney scam is not an exception.

In the mid-1990s, there were media reports that several poor people in Bangalore had their kidneys removed without their consent.

  kidneys