Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Myanmar villagers reveal 'desperate' illegal kidney sales
An organ transplant is a surgical procedure that replaces a damaged organ with a healthy organ from a donor. Organs that have been successfully transplanted include the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, intestine, thymus and uterus. Organ donors may be living, brain dead, or dead via circulatory death. Although the demand for organ transplants has been increasing, the supply meets only about 10% of the needs, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). So where there is unfilled demand, smuggling would emerge. The kidneys are a pair of fist-sized organs located near the middle of the back on either side of the spine, which perform many vital functions, including filtering blood, regulating blood pressure, and producing hormones. Although most people who live with just one of their kidneys can live normal lives, there are health risks such as developing high blood pressure, protein in the urine, chronic kidney diseases, and damage to other organs. Buying or selling human organs is illegal in both Myanmar and India, and documents are needed to perform an organ transplant. However, agents find potential donors who are desperate to make money by any means, forge documents, and arrange for a doctor and hospital to perform a transplant. The problem is that the donors are often not advised of risks to their health and legal liabilities. The scientific fiction “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro is an extreme version of such organ transplantations and donors.
Read the article and learn how illegal kidney transplants are arranged.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgy8p3pe71o
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