Sheetal Shetty was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Powai-based Hirandani Hospital where she was admitted for a liver tumour. When the treating doctors told her younger brother Raj to procure human albumin — a protein found in blood plasma and which is produced by the liver — he had no idea how tough it would be. A nationwide supply crunch has put human albumin off the shelves since the past few months, resulting in black marketeering and often deaths of patients unable to get hold of it.

Varsha Chandan, a liver cirrhosis patient for the past eight years, needs albumin two to three times a week. She had to be hospitalized recently as she missed her dose twice due to non-availability of the drug. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Human albumin is used to treat patients suffering from liver ailments, cancer and even burns. Like Shetty, thousands of desperate relatives all over the country are contacting every possible source to lay their hands on something that is getting alarmingly inaccessible.