Thousands trafficked into India for kidney sale

[Muhammad Javed Iqbal]

In India illicit and illegal trade is believed to be of higher volume
than the legal and taxable one. All sorts of illicit activities under
the sun are done in India, under the very nose of police and law
enforcement authorities, of course for a price. Trade of human organs
is growing and India leads not only SAARC countries, but also whole of
ASIA.:


Dhaka, June 17 (bdnews24.com)— Organ-traffickin g rackets smuggle
thousands of poor men from Bangladesh and other South Asian countries
into India every year to remove their kidneys for sale, speakers at a
roundtable alleged Tuesday.

But a narrow definition of trafficking in a relevant SAARC convention
prevents rescue and rehabilitation of the trafficked people.

"The SAARC convention on trafficking in persons does not recognise
trafficking of males as trafficking, " Nishat Chowdhry, a national
programme officer of the International Organisation for Migration,
told the roundtable in Dhaka. The SAARC convention has a restricted
definition, she said.

The convention says trafficking means the moving, selling or buying of
women and children for prostitution within and outside a country for
monetary or other considerations with or without the consent of the
person subjected to trafficking.

"Trafficking is an international or regional crime. There should be a
regional or international mechanism to combat it," said Dr Mizanur
Rahman, a Dhaka University teacher.

Thousands of Bangladeshis were trafficked to Valore of India and
forced into "donating" their kidneys, according to the roundtable.

"One of the flaws of the SAARC convention is, there is no compliance
mechanism for the member countries," said Rabab Fatima, IOM's South
Asia representative.

She said there was no treaty body to review the convention from time
to time.

"Bangladesh believes the definition of trafficking in the SAARC
convention should be widened," said Abida Islam, a foreign ministry
director.

She said the definition should be broadened gradually as it would be
"difficult to implement the convention if the definition was widened
abruptly".

The SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women
and Children for Prostitution was signed in 2002.

Javed
Iqbal

[k***@gmail.com]

On Jun 19, 1:43 pm, Muhammad Javed Iqbal <***@gmail.com>
wrote:

abbey paki ghadoo read....it does not matter even if it takes you 1
hour to read one line in english.


Pakistan's lucrative kidney trade

CNN Islamabad Bureau Chief Ash-har Quraishi
Wednesday, August 4, 2004 Posted: 0542 GMT (1342 HKT)

story.kidney.cnn.jpg
In visible pain, Ashraf shows off his scar.


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SULTANPURA, Pakistan (CNN) -- Four years ago Mohammad Ashraf,
desperate for money, sold one of his kidneys to repay a debt.

The pay-off was 104,000 rupees, which translates to just about $1,800.

"My health is suffering, I'm in a lot of pain," Ashraf says as he
props himself up on crutches.

Now too weak to stand, Ashraf is out of work and ill. He shows us his
scar -- all that's left of the debt relief he thought he was getting.

"Anyone who has asked me if they should do it, I have told them no.
But people like us don't have any other choice," he explains.

It's a common story in small rural villages like Sultanpura -- people
living in abject poverty looking for an easy way out.

In this village alone more than half of the people living here have
sold one of their kidneys.

In countries like Pakistan where the feudal system still prevails,
many like 40-year-old Nazar Mohammad sell their kidneys hoping the
money brings with it a better life.

"No one does this for fun," says rickshaw driver Nazar Mohammad.

"We have all sold our kidneys to pay off a debt so that we can save
our families from indentured servitude. There is nothing here, not
even water. The land owners keep us oppressed."

Mohammad says more than 20 of his relatives -- men and women -- have
also sold their kidneys.
Trade center

Pakistan is fast becoming a center for the organ trade for foreigners
and wealthy Pakistanis in search of a transplant.

Transplant specialists estimate thousands of live kidneys are sold
here each year.

Many hospitals even advertise on the Internet, offering a transplant
to anyone who can pay. One such procedure had a price tag of $14,000.

Unlike much of the world there are no laws restricting the sale of
organs in Pakistan and no regulation requiring informed consent of
potential donors.

At Pakistan's busiest transplant hospital just a few miles outside the
capital Islamabad, the buying and selling of kidneys is a regular
practice.

The hospital's founder, Col. Mukhtar Hamid Shah, insists that while
the majority of donors are paid, ethically the transactions are
justified.

"I feel this is not the cost of the kidney, this is to encourage so
that their economical problems can also be solved. And they are
encouraged to donate their organs," Shah says.

Regulation and not an outright ban is the key, Shah says. He adds that
in a country where 15,000 people sustain renal failure each year,
without live donors thousands could die.

One example is 16-year-old Rabail Israr. At the age of 11 both her
kidneys failed. Through public donations and help from the hospital
her family was able to raise enough money to arrange for a transplant.
Exploitation?

story.hospital.cnn.jpg
Opponents say the live kidney trade is exploitation.

Her father says he was prepared to do whatever it took to save her
life.

"If someone had come to me and offered to sell their kidney for
$10,000 I would have found a way to buy that kidney regardless of if
it was wrong, or unethical or even against the law. I would have done
anything to save my daughter's life," Israr Ahmed Qureshi says.

Opponents of organ sales like transplant surgeon Adib-ul Hassan Rizvi
call the buying and selling of organs the worst form of exploitation.

"The only people who are benefiting are the middleman and the doctors
who are involved in this business," he says.

"The poor vendor at the end of the day is the same where he was minus
a kidney and psychologically thoroughly broken."

Rizvi heads the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation in
Karachi, the only transplant center in the country that provides
treatment and transplantation free of cost.

He is pushing for legislation to outlaw the sale of live organs and
for the government to allow doctors to use organs from the dead for
transplant purposes -- currently not an accepted practice in many
conservative Muslim countries like Pakistan.

"After a kidney what else are you going to sell? Liver? Lungs? Eyes?
Where is it going to stop?" he asks.

Until some sort of transplant legislation is passed, experts say those
desperate for money like the poor workers of rural Pakistan -- and
those frantically in search of a transplant donor -- will continue to
meet and deal in the organ trade.

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