Pakistanis Sell Kidneys to Survive

"The government is all set to promulgate an ordinance for curbing human organs and tissues transplant trade," Khan said.

"My younger sister was getting married after two months, and I had nothing in my pocket for dowry," Pakistani brick-maker Javed Iqbal told IslamOnline.net on Friday, February 15.

"I requested my employer for some loan, but he instead of giving me some loan, told me to sell out my kidney."

Finding no other option, the 30-year-old Javed sold his kidney for Rs 70,000 (1150 dollars) to cope with expenses of his sister's wedding.

"I was totally confused and scared. I knew how dangerous it would be, but I had no other option" he said.

"Everything was arranged by my employer. I, later, came to know that I was not the only one who sold out his kidney. Various other workers had sold out their kidneys before me."

Javer never dared to tell his family about selling his kidney.

"I knew they would never allow me for that," added the tearful young man.

"When my parents and my sister came to know about that, they all cried for hours."

"I feel pain while urinating; I cannot run fast and start panting very quickly.
I know I took a very wrong decision to sell my kidney, but I had no other option," he added.

Bondage
 
Javer is one of hundreds of poor Pakistanis who have sold their kidneys to meet their daily-life demands or to pay off their debts.

Noor Ali sold his kidney to pay off a loan of Rs 50,000 ($850) he borrowed for treatment of his mother who suffered from tuberculosis.

"I had known that I would not be able to pay back the sum within stipulated period of two years," Noor, who worked at a brick kiln near Rawalpindi, told IOL.

"Since then I had worked at the kiln as a slave.

"I was not alone there. Various others were in the same situation. Sometimes, they (employer’s men) used to hold us in fetters or in iron cages so that we could not escape," added Noor.

He is one of hundreds of bonded workers across Pakistan who are believed to have sold kidneys to pay off debts or cope with other inevitable expenses.

The kidney transplantation trade has been flourishing at kilns scattered across the central Punjab province and on agricultural estates in the southern province of Sindh.

In the village of Sultanpur More, far from the capital Islamabad, many adult men and women have scars on their bodies showing that they have sold a kidney.

In the town of Kot Momin, near northern city of Sargodha in the agricultural heartland of the Punjab, some 400 people are estimated to have sold their kidneys to pay off their debts.

In the Punjab province, the Yazman village in Bahawalpur district is also notorious for kidney sale.

It is believed that every man in the village has sold out one of his kidneys. Police in the area have also confirmed 30 reported cases, all from the same village.

Kidney Bazaar

Known as "kidney bazaar", Pakistan has been earning notoriety for "a flourishing kidney market".

It has been attracting people from all around the world to get kidneys for money, cashing on the poverty in the Muslim country.

"The incidents of kidney selling by the poor are on the rise," an official summary by the Pakistani Health Ministry has revealed.

"Patients from certain developed countries visit Pakistan to buy organs for transplantation at local kidney centers."

The report said that illegal practice has particularly surged during the past six years.

It said that the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur, Multan and Gujrat have been the main centers of kidney trade and transplantation.

Prospective recipients from Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States pay up to $40,000 for a kidney, while donors get as little as $1,000 to $2,000 out of the deal.

Health Ministry officials told IOL on condition of anonymity that patients seeking kidney sale are actively supported by their embassies in finding donors, though the practice is banned in their countries.

Dr Abdul Malik, a Karachi based urologist, said the kidney transplantation trade has flourished in Pakistan, especially since India placed a ban on the practice 10 years ago, diverting traffic to Pakistan.

"It is easy to get a kidney in Pakistan within days as there were long waiting lists for organs elsewhere," he said.

Tariq Mehmood, another urologist, said Pakistan is the most "congenial" place to have a kidney at an "affordable rate."

Estimates show that the annual turnover of kidney business in Rawalpindi and Lahore is close to Rs 980 million ($18,000,000 dollars).

Blame

Sheikh Rafiq Ahmed, President of the National Labor Federation, said that the kidney transplantation trade has been raising up to Rs200, 000 (3300 dollars) per day for surgeons involved in the illegal trade.

He blamed grinding poverty and government leniency to crack down on parties involved in the illegal kidney transplantation trade for the illegal market.

"It is spurred on by the desperate poverty of people, by the lack of laws and by unscrupulous doctors, clinics and their ‘agents’," he said.

"The continued existence of bonded labor shows that the authorities simply have no wish to see it end or to enforce the law."

Draft Law

Currently, there is no legislation on organ transplantation in Pakistan, leaving ample opportunities for thriving the illegal kidney trade in the south Asian country.

But Federal Health Minister Naseer Khan has said the government had prepared a draft law and an ordinance to check the illegal kidney transplantation.

"The government is all set to promulgate an ordinance for curbing human organs and tissues transplant trade," he has told a press conference.

The ordinance, which is likely to be enacted shortly, comes after government’s persistent failure to approve the Human Organs and Tissues Transplant Bill, allegedly because of pressure from the powerful lobby engaged in kidneys’ trade.

Under the proposed ordinance, transplantation would be legally allowed only at medical institutions notified by the government.

Punishment for removal of human organs without authority has been increased from three years imprisonment and fine of Rs 300,000 ($5,000) to five years in jail and a fine of up to Rs one million ($16,000) respectively.

Dr Muhammad Umar, Professor of Medicines at Rawalpindi Medical College, dismissed that doctors were involved in the rife kidney transplantation trade.

"In fact doctors are misguided by the sellers and purchasers. It is told to them that it is not a sell-off but a donation from a family member to another member," he told IOL.

Umar said medically there was no harm in kidney transplantation, but it should be restricted only to the extent of donations to blood relations.

"If I want to save the life of my mother by donating my kidney to her. Then who can prevent me from doing this?"

"Truly speaking this is a life saving issue but certain mafia has made it an illegal trade," he added.