Poverty-stricken workers in Nepal are being pushed to sell their kidneys, with scammers convincing some to part with their organs by claiming they will grow back.
The Kavre district in the foothills of the Himalayas is known as the Kidney Valley, a disturbing reputation it has acquired because someone from almost every household has sold an organ.
Desperate for money, many are sucked into ‘cash for kidney’ fraud, where black market networks buy their organs for small sums and then trade them.
Large numbers of young men are returning from work abroad with kidney failure, causing a major health crisis in a country where around 20 percent of the population lives in poverty.
Many died after selling their organs, while others could no longer work and needed transplants themselves. The victims are now warning others competing for money not to participate in the dangerous and illegal procedures.
Two Nepalese men reveal their scars after selling their kidneys. They told Sky News they were driven by financial need
In Hokse, a rural hill town about 20 kilometers east of Kathmandu, local residents have been targeted by so-called ‘organ brokers’ for years. In the photo: employees in 2015
A local resident named Suman, 31, narrated it Sky News that he felt he had ‘no choice’ but to travel to India and sell his kidney for just £3,000 as he faced financial ruin.
“I felt weak and lost consciousness,” he says. ‘When I woke up it really hurt. Now I can’t work and I try to tell everyone that I can, and that I can’t sell their kidney.’
Another man who sold his kidney in India, where donors must be related to patients, told how “agents” who helped him sell his kidney made him fake documents and identity cards to convince authorities.
“My kidney was given to a fake sister,” he said. “I think the doctor in India knew I sold it.”
A huge gap between supply and demand worldwide has opened up a black market for organs, in which vulnerable people are exploited by criminal networks.
It is estimated that one in ten transplanted organs has been trafficked, in some cases involving doctors and hospitals.
In 2007, the Nepalese government passed a law banning the sale of kidneys, but that hasn’t stopped poor people in the country from turning to it as a last resort.
In Hokse, a rural hill town about 20 kilometers east of Kathmandu, local residents have been targeted by so-called ‘organ brokers’ for years.
Smooth sellers have persuaded villages to sell their body parts for small sums, with one mother previously telling MailOnline she sold hers for £1,300.
The victims are left with scars from the operations, which are illegal and often organized by ‘agents’
Desperate for money, many are sucked into ‘cash for kidney’ fraud, where black market networks buy their organs for small sums. In the photo: victims in Hokse in 2015
Dozens of victims are believed to have occurred in recent months, including a 19-year-old who was among the migrant workers who left his home and returned in 2022 without a kidney.
At least 150 people sold their kidneys from one village in Kavre district, but only three cases were officially reported, Nepal’s National Human Rights Commission said. PBS last year.
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world and is regularly hit by natural disasters, with an earthquake last November leaving a trail of destruction and damaging tens of thousands of homes.
High poverty rates have driven more and more people abroad to countries like Malaysia and the Gulf States to earn money and send it home.
Many are forced to work in harsh conditions on construction sites, with extreme heat in places like Saudi Arabia and lack of water causing many to return to Nepal with kidney problems.
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world and is regularly hit by natural disasters, with an earthquake last November leaving a trail of destruction
Dr. Pukar Shresth, a surgeon at the Human Organ Transplant Center in Nepal, noticed a pattern of young and previously healthy men returning with “complete kidney failure.”
He previously only performed transplants on elderly patients, but said the situation has now become “very serious because about a third of all transplants are migrant workers coming from abroad.”
As body parts sellers take advantage of their victims’ naivety and many see no choice but to work long hours in dangerously high temperatures, doctors have called for more education.
Many in Hokse insist they no longer sell their kidneys, but the village remains scarred by years of exploitation, with physical scars still visible among many who sold their vital organs.