Strong crypto and warm kidneys make happy bedfellows here at kagaa.com
EU president Greece is proposing to ban all such trade, even in cases where
there is consent between the donor and the patient, with jail terms of up
to 10 years where minors or loss of life is involved.
Andersen, who was born in Denmark but has lived in London for the past 12
years, is thought to be the first person in Britain to publicly admit to
becoming a so-called "transplant tourist", although the authorities suspect
his case is representative of many more.
Now back home in London's Mayfair district, Andersen says he has no regrets.
"You can look at it as exploitation," he told The Sunday Times newspaper,
"but donors who may be starving in Pakistan can survive for a long time on
the money and the patients get their lives back. It works both ways."
He first started to research "live" donors on the internet last October
after waiting almost 12 months for a suitable organ for transplant.
"The trouble with the UK system is that you do not know if there are five
or 1000 people ahead of you on the waiting list even if a match turns up,"
he said. "I had a 50-50 chance of survival on dialysis for up to 10 years,
and when you're talking about my life it's just not good enough.
"The first thing I came up with [on the internet] was the offer of kidneys
from Chinese prisoners. Some prices were up to �50,000."
Finally a friend in Saudi Arabia recommended the Masood hospital in Lahore
and said no brokers, prisoners or children were involved.
In January, Andersen flew to the hospital and within two weeks received a
new kidney.
"I didn't want to meet the donor before the operation," he told The Sunday
Times.
"People were burning American flags in the streets. I didn't want somebody
saying, 'I'm not giving my kidney to a European because we're not on the
same side of the fence."'
After the operation Andersen met the donor, a "very shy and very happy"
girl called Sumaira from a village outside Lahore and gave her an extra
�1000 as a "token of my appreciation".
He said he hoped to have all the payments reimbursed from his international
private health-care insurance company.
"I don't think they will refuse to pay because they were paying out �50,000
a year before the operation in dialysis costs," he said.
"If they don't pay I will contest it because I've done nothing illegal."
The Sunday Times traced Sumaira, who told the newspaper her parents had
arranged the sale of her kidney to pay off a debt to a brick factory that
had charged high interest on a loan.
Out of the �3000 she received, her family paid �300 to a broker without the
knowledge of the hospital.
Of the balance, �1100 went to repay the loan and �165 was spent on
Sumaira's post-operative medication. The rest was used to purchase some land.
"After the operation my body was aching with pain at least for two days,
but with the doses of antibiotics it started decreasing," said Sumaira.
Payments in exchange for "live" organs, although controversial, are not
illegal in Pakistan.
Although it is illegal to exchange money for organs in Britain, where there
are more than 4800 people on the waiting list for kidney transplants, there
is nothing to stop patients travelling abroad and paying for organs to be
transplanted from living donors.
http://smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/29/1048653900628.html
