Myanmar villagers fly to India to sell organs illegally happymamay

“I just wanted to own a house and hit my debts – for this reason I decided to sell my kidneys,” says Zia, the farm worker in Myanmar.

Prices have risen yet Military coup in 2021 The civil war sparked. He could barely feed his young family and was bad in debt.

They all lived in the home of his mother -in -law, in a village in which homes lined up on this, a few hours drive from the largest city in the country, Yangon.

On the knowledge of Zia, whose name was changed to hide his identity, he was aware of the local population who sold one of their kidneys. “They started in good health for me,” he says. So he started asking.

It is one of eight people in the region who told the BBC Burmes that they had sold a totally traveling to India.

Illegal organ trading is a problem throughout Asia, and the costume story gives an insight into how it happens.

The purchase or sale of human organs is illegal in both Myanmar and India, but Zia says that he quickly found a man describing him as a “mediator.”

He says that the man arranged medical tests, and a few weeks later, he told him that a possible recipient – Burmese woman – was found that both could travel to India for surgery.

In India, if the donor and the recipient are not close relatives, they must prove that the motivation is altruism and explains the relationship between them.

Zia says that the mediator has falsified a document, which every family in Myanmar must have the inclusion of the details of the family members.

“The mode of the mediator is my name in the recipient’s family tree,” explains.

He says that the mediator made it look as if he was donating to a person who was associated with marriage: “A person is not close to blood, but he is far away.”

Then, he says, the mediator took him to meet the recipient in Yangon. There, he says that the man who presented himself as a doctor has completed more paper works and warned Zia that he would have to pay a large fee if he retracted.

BBC called this man after that, who said his role was to verify whether the patient was appropriate to undergo the procedure, and not to verify the relationship between the donor and the recipient.

Zia says he is said to receive 7.5 million Myanmar Kayat. This has been somewhere between $ 1700 and $ 2700 over the past two years – the informal exchange rate has fluctuated since the coup.

He says he flew to northern India for the operation and happened in a large hospital.

All independence operations that include foreign nationals in India should be approved by a committee called a mandate committee, either by the hospital or by the local government.

Zia says he was interviewed, through a translator, by about four people.

He says: “They asked me if I donated it to her, my college, and not by strength.”

He says he made it clear that the recipient was close and the transplant was approved.

Remember the uniforms of doctors who manage anesthesia before losing consciousness.

“There were no major problems after surgery, but I could not move without pain,” he says, adding that he stayed in the hospital for a week after that.

Another donor said, “Myo Win” – also not his real name – told the BBC that he also pretended to be associated with a strange person.

He says: “The mediator gave me a piece of paper, and I had to memorize what was written on it,” adding that he was told to say that the recipient was married to one of his relatives.

He says: “The person who evaluates my case is also called my mother, but the mediator arranges my mother is fake to the call,” he says. He adds that the person who answered the call confirmed that he donated his kidneys to relatives with her permission.

Myo Win says it was offered to the same amount of Zia’s money, but was described as a “charitable donation”, and he had to pay the mediator about 10 % of the amount.

Both men say they got a third of the money in the foreground. Myo Win says that this was in his thoughts when he entered the stage of operations: “I took my mind that I had to do it because I had already taken their money.”

He adds that he “chose this desperate method” because he was struggling with his wife’s debts and invoices.

Unemployment rates have increased in Myanmar since the coup – the war has destroyed the economy and sent foreign investors to flee. In 2017, a quarter of the population lived in poverty – but by 2023, this rose in half, according to the United Nations Development Agency, the United Nations.

Miu Wayne says that the mediator did not tell him to sell his college illegal. He says, “I wouldn’t have done that if he did so. I was afraid that it would end up in prison,” he says.

The BBC is not named any of the participating organizations or individuals in order to protect its identity and safety.

However, another man in Myanmar, who is also anonymous, said to the BBC that he helped about 10 people buy or sell the kidneys through surgery in India.

He said he referred people to a “agency” in Mandalay, in central Myanmar, who said he had taken arrangements.

“But don’t worry about donors,” he said. “We have a list of donors who are in queues to donate kidneys.”

He also said that the documents were fake to name strangers as related to marriage. When asked if he had received money to help him, he did not respond.

Organ transplants have increased by more than 50 % all over the world since 2010, where about 150,000 annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But it says that the supply of members meets only about 10 % of the global need.

Trading in parts of the human body is illegal in almost all countries and is difficult to measure. In 2007, the World Health Organization estimated that 5-10 % of the cultivated members came from the black market, but the number may be higher.

The illegal kidney sales have been documented by poverty in recent years throughout Asia, including in Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh.

India has always been a center for medical tourism and anxiety about kidney sales, and after accounts in the reports of the media and the recent police investigation.

Last July, the Indian police said they had arrested seven people in relation to the alleged kidney striker, including an Indian doctor and assistant.

Police claim that the group arranged for the poor Bangladeshis to sell their kidneys, using forged documents to ensure the approval of the transplants.

It is claimed that Dr. Vijaya Rajakomari, who was working at the distinguished Endarbarsta Apollo Hospital in Delhi, performed operations as a visiting consultant in a different hospital, Yathir, a few kilometers away.

Her lawyer BBC told the allegations that “it is completely baseless and without evidence,” that she carried out only approved surgeries by the authorization committees and always acted according to the law. According to the guarantee, she is not accused of preparing forged documents.

Yathant BBC has told all its issues, including those managed by visiting consultants, “are subject to our strong protocols to ensure compliance with legal and ethical standards.”

“We have further strengthened our operations to prevent such a future in the future,” the hospital said.

After her arrest, Apollo Hospitals said that Dr. Rajakomari was an independent advisor working on the basis of fees for service, and she stopped all clinical posts with her.

Dr. Rajakomari was not charged in court.

Last April, a senior official in the Ministry of Health wrote to the Indian states a warning of “increase” in foreigners’ transplants and calling for better monitoring.

Under Indian law, foreign citizens who want to donate or receive members must have their documents, including those who show the relationship between the donor and the recipient, which has been verified by the embassy of their country in India.

BBC contacted the Indian Ministry of Heath and the Organization of National Organism and Agricultural, as well as the military government in Myanmar to comment, but it did not receive any response.

“The law enforcement is ineffective,” said Dr. Thuneen Haling, a public health activist in Myanmar.

He added that potential donors should be familiar with risks, including bleeding during surgery and damage to other organs, adding that appropriate care for follow -up is needed.

The BBC heard the last time of Zia several months after surgery.

“I managed to settle debts and bought a plot from the ground,” he said.

But he said he could not bear the construction of a house and could not build one while healing from surgery. He said he was suffering from back pain.

“I must restart the work soon. If the side effects are hit again, I must deal with it. I have no remorse for it,” he added.

He said he remained in contact with the recipient for a while, and told him that she was in good health with his kidneys.

Speaking on the condition that her identity is not disclosed, BBC told that she had paid 100 million Kayans (between about 22,000 dollars and $ 35,000 in recent years). She denied that the documents were forged, while maintaining that Zia was her relative.

Six months after surgery, he told Myo The BBC that he paid most of his debts, but not all.

“I have no job, not even a penny,” he said, adding that he had been suffering from some stomach problems since surgery.

He said he did not regret, but then added: “I tell others not to do this. This is not good.”