In the sale of their organs many people in Pakistan see the only way out of poverty. Muhammad Iqbal was one of them, and sold his kidney. Today, the family is distraught father. From Lahore, Sattar Khan.
In the circle of his family – the former factory worker Muhammad Iqbal is now a broken man
Muhammad Iqbal was once a bear of a man. Nowadays, the health condition of the former factory worker is not so bad that he age-old his favorite sports “Kabaddi”, a, Southeast asisatischen variant of wrestling, you can go for.
Blame it on the 44-year-old Pakistani. In 2012, eight times the father of a family made a decision that should ruin his life: “I’m in debt over your head,” said Iqbal to the DW: “I was working in a brick factory in the vicinity of Lahore, in northeastern Pakistan, and to me the equivalent of around 1,600 euros from my boss borrowed it. Although I have around slaved to the clock, was the mountain of debt getting bigger and bigger. I was so desperate, I would have done anything to have more money in your pocket.”
“Selling your kidney“
His Cousin Ashraf had then had this idea. He could still sell his kidney to make money. First of all, it would have shocked the idea. But the misery in which he had lived, have forced him to reconsider. His Cousin, the would have sold a year and a half before his kidney, had persuaded him to the step.
Back scars remain, and health problems – Muhammed Iqbal shows his wound
“He has explained to me the entire process, how easy everything would be. Above all, he has assured me that I would not die during the Operation. That was the biggest concern that I had.”
His Cousin had then organised for him to Meet with Faqir Hussain, a man from Lahore, the kidney to sell. “Hussain has offered me that he would buy my kidney for the equivalent of about 940 euros. I managed to get him to 1,160 high-act.” He had initially been a series of medical Tests. You do not want to go, “I suffer from a serious illness”.
A Detailed Health Check
Then, he had been asked to come to around 300 kilometres away, in Rawalpindi, the former seat of the government of Pakistan: “I can’t remember the exact date. But I am sure that we have taken in the Winter of 2012 a Bus from Lahore to Rawalpindi.” In the dawn they had been and of drivers picked up arrived, “have been waiting for you and you would have brought in a palatial building close to the city centre. The house of Faqir Hussain belonged to.”
The Problem of organ trafficking in Pakistan has existed for a long time. This picture is from the year 2004
The Gangs that organize the business with the kidneys, had the reputation, before an Operation, particularly nice with the donors deal. Muhammad Iqbal has made this experience: “First of all, we should shower, and then they offered us to eat something.”
After a few hours you would have started with the Tests. “For eight days, man has given us a whole series of medical examinations.” In total, they stayed for 15 days in Rawalpindi, would have food and accommodation provided. “Because the test results were inconclusive, they sent some back home.”
The hospitals in which such operations are carried out, hide under a false identity. In the case of Muhammad Iqbal, it was a eye clinic. “In the basement of this clinic was decorated to a high modern Station, in which the kidney operations were performed. On the day of surgery I was taken to the hospital. There, I’ve also Pathal, the recipient of my kidney, to know. He paid me a little more than the price we agreed on.” Every single one of the Doctors and nurses have known any better. “Some of us have expressed also their compassion.”
Doctors protect themselves legally
The Doctors as well as the participants of the course secured as well as possible legally, so Iqbal to the DW: “Before the Operation a doctor asked me to confirm in writing that I have decided voluntarily to the Operation, and that the hospital in any way for possible complications or damage should arise, in consequence of the Operation. This would also have applied if I had died during SURGERY.”
Catastrophic consequences of the OP
So it came a day after the Operation, which took place under General anesthesia, he had taken a Bus home. As Iqbal would quickly find out, began to him, it is only now that the ordeal. “Of the nearly 1.160 euros I get for my kidney, I had to spend alone, around 290 Euro for medicines. Actually, I should have a lot of beef to eat, could not afford it. My original debt to repay, I had to sell my rickshaw.”
Heavy damage for little money. Muhammad Iqbal appealed to all, he is not to do the same.
Today he is a broken man: the health constraints in the sequence of the Operation he had to his regular work in the brick factory to give up. He could only take odd jobs, so that new debts were incurred.
“So we don’t suffocate in a mountain of debt, have to work my two daughters, 13 and 12 years old, in Lahore as a house girl. You earn ten euros a month and must live in the house.”
“Never,” Iqbal admits in an interview with DW in tears, he would advise someone to pursue his way. “I ask the government earnestly to adopt the thousands Affected as me – the out of this financial downward spiral no longer come out of debt and to increase the minimum wage.” One thing is clear: no one would sell his kidney voluntarily. Solely to the fight against poverty in the country to be an effective method, as Iqbal was to put these “criminal gangs”.