Black market organ trade is Baghdad’s new growth industry
Written by Alyx on May 24th, 2005 in culture.
Would-be buyers with an eye for a bargain can now pick up a new kidney for as little as $700, given the desperation of fit and healthy Iraqis for money. Young men like Mr Hameed can be seen loitering around many big hospitals in Baghdad these days, open to bids passed on via networks of shadowy middlemen who lurk in nearby cafés. With unemployment in Iraq at about 60 per cent, the chance to earn money by touting body parts is a more calculated risk than, say, becoming a $150-a-month rookie policeman at the mercy of suicide attackers. In the main their customers are other Iraqis, for whom kidney problems are common thanks to decades of poor diet, water and medical care.
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Hooray capitalism!
~Alyx
