Heart transplant in India: Favourable for foreigners or few takers here?

Heart transplant surgery is a rare facility available in the country, and no reliable data is available on transplant outcomes of the few facilities in existence

A recent page-one headline in The Hindu read: ‘In Chennai, the hearts beat for foreigners’. Another headline announced that in Tamil Nadu, three of four donated hearts go to foreigners, provoking emotive discussions on TV. (Only the fine print in the articles explained that it was actually one out of six). These claims were moderated by the newspaper a little later, but readers probably only remember the original headlines.

Not enough Indians for donated hearts?

Of organs that are usually donated, kidneys and livers do not go to foreigners, but some hearts and lungs do – because there are not enough Indian