Iraq: Focus on illegal organ trade ($2,000 for a kidney)

[Barrett808]

BAGHDAD, 6 July (IRIN) - Kassim Fadhel, a 58-year-old businessman in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, has been waiting for more than three years to find a reliable kidney donor to replace one of his own failing organs. Frustration led to him having to buy a kidney on the black market in the capital, Baghdad.

"I had to save my life, I did not want to die. We couldn't find one relative of mine who could be my donor, but thank God I found someone who sold me their kidney" Fadhel said.

Poverty in Iraq means there are currently plenty of people willing to sell their kidneys, with middlemen bringing vendor and buyer together.

According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), renal disease is common in the country and more than 5,000 Iraqis currently require urgent kidney transplants. Decades of poor diet, unclean water and lack of medical care have contributed to the high levels of kidney disease.

The main gate of Baghdad's Karama hospital is the place to go if you want to trade a kidney. A man, who calls himself Bashar, hovers by the entrance, his front business is selling tea and soft drinks but his real trade soon becomes apparent.

"I can get you a healthy kidney. It will cost you US $2,000 to $3,000, you just have to give me your blood type and I will get it for you even before you have finished a cold pepsi," Bashar said, smiling. Donors are taken into the hospital laboratory where blood tests to establish compatibility are carried out.

(more)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/ebbc6aa10cc314a60bb49eca4da98ebf.htm

[barb162]

1. I predict we will be selling organs in this country with in the next 20

years to the Chinese.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Shhh, don't let this info leak out

or the Misleader will try to get himself a bran

[katinmn]

3. More discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4028038&mesg_id=4028038

[anotherdrew]

4. this isn't the first I've seen about organs... some sick stuff

omg this is awful

[skooooo]

5. I think I'd hold out for quite a bit more than @2K

Like maybe $200K...at least!

[Career Prole]

6. Shrub has succeeded at importing free-market capitalism to Iraq. n/t

[yorkiemommie1]

7. Harper's Magazine July 2005

p. 22

Allegation:

" Secret European military intelligence reports indicate the transformation of the American humanitarian mission in Iraq into a profitable trade through the practice of American physicians extracting human organs from the dead and wounded . A secret team of American physicians follows the troops during their attacks on Iraqi armed men to ensure quick operations....


The reports further indicate that American medical teams have recruited some Iraqis to guide them to dead and criticallyinjured individuals . These teams offe $$0 for every usable kidney and $25 for an eye....

.... from an article publisheed 12/18 by the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan. Stori also appeared in papers in Syria and Iran. Translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute. "

_____

I find this very hard to believe on a lot of levels. Just sounds impossible. Maybe this is an urban myth over there?

[FightingIrish]

8. I thought I was joking when I said..

that Cheney was in Baghdad getting a heart.

[endarkenment]

9. urban legend

I'm not saying that none of this is happening, I'm saying that this is an urban legend prototype and that this story (or meme) in its various forms appears repeatedly.

[Barrett808]

10. Well sure, but this story has interviews with (presumably) real people

So I have more confidence in this than a "friend-of-a-friend" story.

[WhiteTara]

11. reminds me of a book I read

called Almanac of the Dead. Very ghoulish. We are most likely heading down this path of selling parts for a little food.