In Nepal's 'Kidney Valley,' poverty drives an illegal market for human organs | PBS News
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In Nepal's 'Kidney Valley,' poverty drives an illegal market for human organs
World
Jan 17, 2023 5:23 PM EDT
2022 is the year 19-year-old Santosh will never forget. Santosh had dreams of improving his life for the better, seeking work outside his rural village in Nepal as a migrant worker. His life did change, but only for the worse. Santosh is now half the man he used to be after losing one of his two kidneys to an organ trafficking ring in Nepal, a South Asian country of 29 million people and one of the poorest in the world.
"I never thought my life would come to this. I can barely walk, I faint easily and can no longer lift heavy objects," he said.
Santosh, who asked to be quoted by just his first name due to fear of being shamed, is one of around half a million migrant workers who left rural Nepal to chase a better life. In June last year, he was lured by two men who came to his native village in central Nepal with the promise of a new job in New Delhi, the northwestern capital city of neighboring India. Over the next few weeks, he was illegally trafficked to India through the porous land border the two countries share and was then taken to a hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata, where doctors conducted an illegal surgery, removing one of his two kidneys.
"They stole my kidney, handed me a bunch of money and sent me back to Nepal. I never knew what was being done to me," he said.
Nepali police's anti-human trafficking wing has arrested nine people since July 2022 accused of running organ trafficking operations in the capital city, Kathmandu. Santosh is believed to be among dozens of victims this year.
Santosh was the only member of his family of six who earned an income of any kind. The work he did at a small farm of less than 13 acres in Nuwakot District in central Nepal made him barely enough to get by. "I have four sisters and a mother back home, six mouths to feed and no money. I was desperate for this new job," he said.
In Jamdi village, every other home has at least one person who has sold their kidney in the past due to financial need.
That desperation made him an easy target for traffickers. Upon arriving in New Delhi, he said he was told that he needed to get a blood test as part of the new job requirement. He said he had no idea of what was being done to him at the hospital. "They asked me to say yes to whatever the doctor asks, so I did. The doctor didn't probe further," he said. Santosh woke up after the surgery with an acute pain in his stomach and was horrified to see the scar that is now a lifelong reminder of what was stolen from him.
Santosh told the NewsHour that after the surgery the traffickers handed him $4,500 for his stolen kidney, a kidney most likely to be sold to a rich buyer willing to pay to jump the line for an organ transplant. He was given medicine and sent back to Nepal. When he was back home, he was once again jobless, still poor, but now also with a chronic deficiency. For several weeks, Santosh was bedridden. He could no longer work at his farm, so he now works at a small tea-shop in Kathmandu, earning less than $2 a day. His stomach still hurts every time he bends. He's no longer the healthy young man he once was.
READ MORE: Human trafficking victims forced to sell their organs share harrowing stories
19-year-old Santosh now has a scar as a lifelong reminder of his stolen kidney. Photo credit: Zeba Warsi
"The donor could die and no one would care," said Dr. Francis Delmonico, a transplant professional. Delmonico is a transplant surgeon and the former President of United Network for Organ Sharing which oversees the organ transplant system in the United States to ensure equity. He said all kidney donors need prolonged care and must be monitored. But, in cases of illegal organ trafficking, donors like Santosh face serious health risks without that medical oversight.
It's not just the traffickers who should be blamed and punished for illegal selling and buying of organs like kidneys. Dr. Delmonico said the blame also rests on the government, hospitals and medical professionals who can be negligent or even complicit in the trafficking.
"If a doctor is violating the law that prohibits the buying and selling of organs, the doctor should not be able to continue with that practice," Dr. Delmonico said.
There are internationally accepted norms for kidney transplant surgeries that most countries including India and Nepal...