Features

With No Source of Income, Afghans are Turning to the Illegal Organ Trade

February 11, 2021

Daniel Dayan

4 min read

Six Afghan men who sold their kidneys for between $4,000 and $6,000 each

Some Afghan women also sell their kidneys due to growing poverty and a lack of steady income

Men in Herat say that after selling their kidneys they were unable to do heavy work, reducing their prospects further

Some used the money just to make ends meet; others, to pay for illegal trips into Iran or further afield

Seyed Vahid Ghatali, the governor of Herat, recently met with some of the still-destitute victims of the kidney trade

This youngster has two parents who have been forced to sell their kidneys to get by

Many of those involved in the trade in Herat have been displaced by conflict from other parts of western Afghanistan

The governor said this organized criminal activity was the "inevitable" outcome of escalating poverty

Local gangs have been approaching people in their homes and trying to seduce them into taking part

Poverty, unemployment and a lack of prospects have caused a surge in the underground organ trade in various cities in Afghanistan. In the city of Herat near the Iraq-Iran border, the sale of kidneys now appears to be booming.

Most of the kidneys sold in Herat are from members of families displaced by war, who have migrated here from other cities and towns in western Afghanistan. These internally displaced households often have no source of stable income and are forced to sell their organs just to feed themselves. Others spend the money they make on being smuggled into Iran, or to Europe.

Health Providers’ Complicity in the Illegal Organ Trade

The Loghman Hakim Complex Hospital in Herat successfully performed its first kidney transplant surgery in early 2016. Its reputation has grown ever since, and now it is even said that people from other countries travel to this hospital for the same surgery. For its part, Loghman Hakim says it has no involvement in kidney sales and could not provide any useable statistics on kidney transplants to Afghan citizens living abroad or to non-Afghan citizens.

But on the walls of other less-renowned hospitals nearby, such as Herat District Hospital, messages have been posted advertising kidneys for sales: phone numbers written on scraps of paper and stuck up for all to see. Doctors there say kidneys are cheap in Afghanistan and sell for between 4,000 and 6,000 US dollars on the open market.

Meanwhile, according to some locals including Ghayoum, the elder of Seshanbeh-Bazar village in Herat’s Enjil county, there has been an co-ordinated effort by some pharmacies to persuade the poor to sell their kidneys. At the same time, Ghayoum says, a group of Afghans have been knocking on people’s doors in an organized manner to encourage them to take part in the trade. These people are known as "pollen traders".

In recent weeks, various reports have been published on the phenomenon of kidney sales in Afghanistan, provoking mixed and often furious reactions. Niloufar Jalali Kofi, an MP for Kunduz province, blamed the Afghan government for emergence of the trade during a plenary session of parliament: "While the people are selling their organs because of poverty, the government does not care about them."

As in most countries, the sale and purchase of human organs including kidneys is illegal in Afghanistan. Officials have said that people can report both their local hospital and any health officials involved in the sale and purchase of kidneys to the judiciary. Seyed Vahid Ghatali, the governor of Herat, has called for a joint delegation of health, judiciary, national security and immigration officials to investigate the claims about the organized outfits now seducing people into selling their kidneys. Ghatali has stressed that the market for kidneys in Afghanistan is partly “inevitable” due to the current economic pressures, but added that the “public health mafia” should not be taking advantage of people’s poverty.

Nothing but Regret for Those who Took Part

Abdol Ghani lives in Herat. He and his three brothers have all sold their kidneys as a means of alleviating their financial problems. They had tried three times to get to Iran illegally, but each time they were caught in Tehran and deported, and had to sell their kidneys to pay off their debts to the smugglers. Abdol Ghani alone owed $400 for each trip.

This man categorically states that he sold his kidney at the Loghman Hakim Complex Hospital. In total, he says, he received $4,000 for it, which he lived on for a while after paying off his debts. Now, however, he remains in poverty: "Since I sold my kidney, I have back pain and I cannot walk. I always catch a cold in the cold season and I cannot work in chilly environments. I can no longer work hard; I can only do cleaning, and when no one in Herat needs any cleaning done, I’m unemployed – that’s most of the time."

Nesar Ahmad is just 18 years old. He also sold one of his kidneys for $5,000 to try to sustain himself and his family. The young man told IranWire of his concerns that pressure-sales could induce more people to make the same mistake: “Twenty of my close relatives have sold their kidneys, and a number of others want to do the same so as not to starve. I should not have sold my kidney for that low price either. It is the duty of the Afghan government to stop the profiteers.”

For his part Nesar Ahmad had also wanted to sell his kidneysahead of his wedding, which he knew would cost the family dear. But after the ceremony, which itself cost several thousand dollars, they were again left empty-handed.

Some other citizens of Herat province also told IranWire that advertisements for kidney sellers proliferate across different cities in the region. Many people are fooled into taking part, perhaps with the dream of emigrating, but the sale provides no guarantee they will be able to do this – and the money they make is not enough to ensure a bright future even in Afghanistan.

This article was written by a citizen journalist under a pseudonym.