Monday, July 20, 2009

Ahhh.............The Fruits of "Liberation!" Poverty drives Iraq organ trade


Al-Jazeera

"Abject poverty across Iraq is fuelling an illegal trade in human organs.

Hundreds of people are believed to have sold kidneys and other organs through dealers in the capital, Baghdad, over the last year.

Karim Hussein made the long journey from Amara, a province in the south of Iraq, to Baghdad because he was desperate for the $3,000 he would get from the sale of a kidney there......

Although Iraqi law law allows people to donate their organs, their sale is illegal.

However, one of their customers said that he had paid more than $15,000 to one of the dealer outside the hospital.

"I got a kidney for my cousin through dealers outside the hospital, Sadik Hamza said.

"It cost us more than $15,000. Most of it went to dealers who take two-thirds of the amount and only one-third went to the donor.....

The majority of customers buying the organs are other Iraqis, but with news of the growing market spreading across the region, there have been reports of people travelling from across the Middle East to secure an organ."

No comments: