Post by toweringniceguy on Nov 22, 2006 13:49:26 GMT 10
JANDALA, Pakistan (AP) -- Nassem Kausar has done it. So, she says, have her sister, six brothers, five sisters-in-law and two nephews.
Each has sold a kidney to a trade that has led Pakistan's media to dub the country a "kidney bazaar."
"We do this because of our poverty," said Kausar, who is in her 30s and lives with her family in Sultanpur Mor, a village in eastern Pakistan.
A kidney nets the donor $2,500, sometimes less than half that amount, while recipients -- some 2,000 a year -- pay $6,000 to $12,000, compared with $70,000 in neighboring China.
Critics blame an economic system that enmeshes farmers in chronic debt, forcing them to sell their kidneys, and say the trade should be banned. The government says it is taking action.
In the United States, donating kidneys for money is banned. But the Belgium-based International Society of Nephrology has suggested expanding the pool of kidney donors by legalizing payment of about $40,000 to donors.
At least 20 transplant clinics exist in Pakistan, and 10 percent of the patients are foreigners, many from the Middle East and "one or two" from Europe, said Bakhsh Ali, a senior official at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation.
The institute, a free transplant clinic run jointly by the government and private organizations, has joined the call for banning the sale of kidneys.
The government has drafted legislation to "regulate" kidney transplants, monitor surgeries and "encourage family donors," said Health Ministry official Athar Saeed Dil, who has helped draft the proposed law.
Each has sold a kidney to a trade that has led Pakistan's media to dub the country a "kidney bazaar."
"We do this because of our poverty," said Kausar, who is in her 30s and lives with her family in Sultanpur Mor, a village in eastern Pakistan.
A kidney nets the donor $2,500, sometimes less than half that amount, while recipients -- some 2,000 a year -- pay $6,000 to $12,000, compared with $70,000 in neighboring China.
Critics blame an economic system that enmeshes farmers in chronic debt, forcing them to sell their kidneys, and say the trade should be banned. The government says it is taking action.
In the United States, donating kidneys for money is banned. But the Belgium-based International Society of Nephrology has suggested expanding the pool of kidney donors by legalizing payment of about $40,000 to donors.
At least 20 transplant clinics exist in Pakistan, and 10 percent of the patients are foreigners, many from the Middle East and "one or two" from Europe, said Bakhsh Ali, a senior official at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation.
The institute, a free transplant clinic run jointly by the government and private organizations, has joined the call for banning the sale of kidneys.
The government has drafted legislation to "regulate" kidney transplants, monitor surgeries and "encourage family donors," said Health Ministry official Athar Saeed Dil, who has helped draft the proposed law.
Chand meri zameen phool mera watan