ASIA/NEPAL - The poor are forced to carry out illegal traficking in organs

Kathmandu (Agenzia Fides) - Illegal trafficking in human organs continues to be widespread throughout the world. The kidney is the most sold organ. There are those who sell their organs to buy a house and provide a decent life for their family, there are those who do it to pay for medical care. The village of Hokshe, in Nepal is notorious for this tragic phenomenon. Traffickers act with impunity and almost all the inhabitants are aware of someone who has sold a kidney on the black market.
We are talking about a village of small farms and mud huts, for decades now the center of the illegal trafficking of organs. Out of 4000 inhabitants, 121 have sold at least one kidney, although unofficial estimates claim that the number is far higher. Over the years, the town has earned the nickname "the kidney bank". In fact, for decades smugglers have convinced laborers, poor farmers in the mountains outside Kathmandu and many illiterate to sell their organs. With the promise of earning hundreds of thousands of dollars, donors are forced to go to India for surgery.
Until 2008 the operation was illegal; later people were allowed to donate organs only for the closest relatives, after careful monitoring by the Government. Years of campaigns, along with a more recent monitoring by the police, have slowed trafficking in organs significantly. Last year, the police arrested ten traffickers. Three of them are in prison. Others are free on bail and awaiting trial. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 24/11/2014)