Doctors sell information on newborns for stem cell research

The unholy nexus between doctors and pharma companies is now snaring the newborns. Many doctors are passing on details of newborns to companies involved in stem cell research for a fee.

The nexus, according to sources, is cashing on the trend among parents to store the stem cells of their children to tackle medical exigencies later in life. Stem cells — cells with regenerative properties and thus useful in times of medical emergency — are now being derived from the umbilical cord of the baby.

Many pharmaceutical companies charge a hefty sum — usually over Rs1 lakh — for such a service. Doctors provide the list of their patients to these companies for a price.

“The method of deriving stem cells from a newborn child’s placenta or umbilical cord is relatively new. The companies keep doctors specialising in such research on their payroll. We get information about a newborn child from such a doctor,’’ said a highly-placed source in a pharmaceutical company.

Next, the companies call up the parents to tell them about the test which will set the stage for healing and, in some cases, the restoration of injured, diseased and debilitated tissues and organs of the child in the future.

“The parents ask the doctor if they should conduct the test, who agrees, and then he directs them to us,” a top official from another pharmaceutical company added. The parents pay Rs1.5 lakh for this test, of which the doctor’s cut is Rs15,000. “One doctor provides us with 15 such cases every month. This way, the doctor earns Rs2 lakh to Rs3 lakh per month from us,”  said the official. There are gifts for the doctors too, including all-expenses paid foreign trips and expensive home products.

“Pharma companies involved in stem cell research pay close to Rs15 lakh in kind to doctors every year,” said a senior doctor in a government hospital.    

“The centre will have to find ways to tackle the problem,” added the doctor.    

The clandestine operation is on even as the country is giving a hard thought to tap the potential of therapeutic cloning to heal and regenerate damaged body parts and find treatment for complex medical problems.

“Although India remains totally opposed to reproductive cloning owing to the doubtful nature of its safety, success utility and ethical acceptability, therapeutic cloning can be considered on case-to-case basis,” Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had said a few months ago.

Another doctor at a reputed Delhi hospital raises a note of caution for parents. “Stem cell research is still in the planning phase and parents should not get such tests done on their child. Stem cell research holds great promise but will take time. Pharma companies make tall claims to sell their product. Personally I would not advise parents to go in for such an expensive test without any solid proof,’’ he said.