Need A Kidney? Go To Isfahan

The organ trade is bustling in Iran. Nowhere is this more the case than in Isfahan, where several of the streets are awash with posters advertising kidneys for sale for people of all shapes and sizes.

“For Sale: Healthy Kidney. O+ blood group. No previous drug or alcohol addiction. Price negotiable,” reads one sign in Isfahan, which was put up by a 28-year-old man called Kasra. 

Amadgah Street, located in the center, has more ads than anywhere else in the city. The long road is full of signs promoting kidney sales. Recently, the Isfahan Metropolis News Agency website published a series of photographs of the ads. 

Iranian law does not forbid the selling and buying of kidneys or other organs. The first time Iranian lawmakers tried to bring the matter to the floor of parliament was in 1994, but they were unable to come to any resolution. A single-article law, the “Law to Allow Transplant of Organs from the Body of the Deceased under Certain Conditions,” was then introduced. It stipulated that “using the organs of the deceased or of people who are braindead for transplanting in patients who need them is allowed, provided conditions are observed.”

But the only conditions or limitations the law imposes is that it bans Iranians from donating kidneys to foreign nationals. This came about in 1993, when the Society for the Support of Kidney Patients raised awareness of the fact that many foreigners were taking advantage of lax laws and traveling to Iran for kidney transplants, thereby reducing the supply for domestic patients.

“Amadgah Street is at the heart of Isfahan’s doctors and specialists. As far as the eye can see, there are huge billboards advertising medical centers and clinics,” The Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reports. “When you walk down the road, whether you’re sick or not, you can’t help but notice the countless signs plastered on the walls and on the inside of telephone booths. It goes without saying that the ones that attract the most attention are the ones selling organs.”

Tehran’s equivalent is Farhang Hosseini, or as it more commonly known, “Kidney Street,” where ads for buying and selling kidneys are everywhere, as well as telephone numbers and blood group information about patients and donors.

The Kidney Foundation of Iran has its headquarters on this street. Every day, large numbers of people with kidney problems visit the area, hoping to receive some kind of help.

According to statistics, kidney donations constitute 85 percent of all organ donations in Iran. Brokers play an important role in Iran’s kidney trade, operating as middlemen between buyers and sellers and pocketing a substantial amount of money even before the two sides meet for the transplant operation.

 “What’s contributing to this problem is the inadequate governmental supervision of organ donors in the country,” ISNA concludes. “To better the situation, the medical system across the whole of the Isfahan province needs to be majorly improved.”

Read the original article in Persian

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