Myanmar villagers fly to India to sell organs illegally

“I just wanted to have a house and pay my debts, that’s why I decided to sell my kidney,” says Zeya, an agricultural worker in Myanmar.

Prices had been shot later A military coup in 2021 unleashed the civil war. He could barely feed his young family and was very indebted.

Everyone lived in their mother -in -law’s house, in a town where straw houses were aligned on dirt roads, a few hours by car from the largest city in the country, Yangon.

Zeya, whose name has been changed to hide their identity, knew of the local people who had sold one of their kidneys. “They seemed healthy to me,” he says. Then he started asking.

It is one of the eight people in the area that they told BBC Birmese that they had sold a kidney traveling to India.

Illegal organ trade is a problem in Asia, and Zeya’s story gives an idea of ​​how it takes place.

Buying or selling human organs is illegal in both Myanmar and India, but Zeya says he soon found a man who describes as a “runner.”

He says that the man organized medical tests and, a few weeks later, he told him that he had found a possible receiver, a Burmese woman, and that both could travel to India for surgery.

In India, if the donor and the receiver are not close relatives, they must demonstrate that the reason is altruistic and explain the relationship between them.

Zeya says that the corridor forged a document, that all Myanmar’s homes must have, listing the details of family members.

“The corridor put my name in the family’s family tree,” he explains.

He says the corridor made it seem to be donating someone with whom he was related by marriage: “Someone who is not a blood relative, but a distant relative.”

Then, he says, the corridor led him to know the recipient in Yangon. There, he says that a man who appeared as a doctor completed more paperwork and warned Zeya that he would have to pay a substantial rate if he went back.

The BBC contacted this man later, who said that his role was to verify if a patient was fit to undergo the procedure, not to verify the relationship between the donor and the recipient.

Zeya says they told him that he would receive 7.5m Myanmar Kyats. This has been between $ 1,700 and $ 2,700 in recent years: the unofficial exchange rate has fluctuated from the coup.

He says he flew north of India for the operation and took place in a great hospital.

All transplants involving foreign citizens in India must be approved by a panel called Authorization Committee, established by the hospital or by the local government.

Zeya says she was interviewed, through a translator, by about four people.

“They asked me if I was voluntarily donating my kidney, not by force,” he says.

He says he explained that the recipient was a relative and that the transplant was approved.

Zeya reminds doctors who manage anesthetic before losing consciousness.

“There were no big problems after surgery, except that I could not move without pain,” he says, and adds that he remained in the hospital for a week later.

Another donor, My Win, neither did his real name, told the BBC that he had also pretended to be related to a stranger.

“The corridor gave me a role, and I had to memorize what was written in him,” he says, and adds that they told him to say that the recipient was married to one of his relatives.

“The person who evaluated my case also called my mother, but the corridor organized a false mother for the call,” he says. He adds that the person who answered the call confirmed that he was donating his kidney to a relative with his permission.

Myo Win says that he was offered the same amount of money as Zeya, but was described as a “charitable donation”, and had to pay the corridor about 10% of the amount.

Both men say they were given a third of the money in advance. Myo Win says this was in his thoughts when he entered the beginning: “I decided that he had to do it because he had already taken his money.”

He adds that “he chose this desperate way” while fighting with debt and medical invoices for his wife.

Unemployment rates have risen in Myanmar since the coup: the war has devastated the economy and has sent foreign investors fleeing. In 2017, a quarter of the population lived in poverty, but by 2023, this had increased by half, according to the UN Development Agency, UNDP.

Myo Win says that the corridor did not tell him that selling his kidney was illegal. “I wouldn’t have done it if I did. I am afraid to end in prison,” he says.

BBC does not name any of the organizations or people involved to protect the anonymity and safety of the interviewees.

However, another man in Myanmar, also speaking anonymously, told the BBC that he had helped some 10 people buy or sell kidneys through surgery in India.

He said he sent people to an “agency” in Mandalay in the center of Myanmar, which he made arrangements.

“But don’t worry about donors,” he said. “We have a list of donors who are queuing to donate their kidneys.”

He also said that the documents were false to label strangers as they related to marriage. When asked if he received money for his help, he did not respond.

Organ transplants have increased by more than 50% worldwide since 2010, with approximately 150,000 carried out annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But he says that organ supply satisfies only about 10% of global needs.

Trade in the parts of the human body is illegal in almost all countries and is difficult to measure. In 2007, WHO estimated that 5-10% of transplanted organs come from the black market, but the figure may be higher.

Illegal kidney sales promoted by poverty have been documented in recent years in Asia, even in Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh.

India has long been a center for medical tourism and concern for kidney sales has increased, after media reports and recent police investigation.

Last July, the Indian police said they had arrested seven people in relation to an alleged renal racket, including an Indian doctor and his assistant.

Police allege that the group organized that the poor Bangladesi sell their kidneys, using counterfeit documents to obtain the approval of the transplants.

It is alleged that Dr. Vijaya Rajakumari, who had been working in the prestigious Indraprastha Apollo hospital in Delhi, carried out operations as a visiting consultant in a different hospital, Yatharth, a few kilometers away.

His lawyer told the BBC that the accusations “have no basis and have no evidence”, that he only carried out surgeries approved by the authorization committees and always acted according to the law. According to his bail order, she is not accused of preparing counterfeit documents.

Yatharth Hospital told the BBC all its cases, including those administered by visiting consultants, “are subject to our robust protocols to guarantee compliance with legal and ethical standards.”

“We have even more improved our processes to avoid such occurrences in the future,” said the hospital.

After his arrest, Apollo’s hospitals said that Dr. Rajakumari was an independent consultant participated in a service base and had discontinued all clinical commitments with her.

Dr. Rajakumari has not been accused in court.

Last April, a senior official of the Ministry of Health wrote to the Indian states warning about an “increase” in transplants involving foreigners and asked for a better monitoring.

According to Indian law, foreign citizens who wish to donate or receive organs must have their documents, including those who show the relationship between donor and recipient, verified by the embassy of their own country in India.

The BBC contacted the Heath Ministry of India and the National Organization for Transplantation of Organs and Tishes, as well as the Myanmar Military Government to comment, but has not received an answer.

A public health activist in Myanmar, Dr. Thurein Hlaing Win, said: “The application of the law is not effective.”

He added that potential donors should know the risks, even bleeding during surgery and damage to other organs, adding that proper monitoring is needed.

The BBC last listened to Zeya several months after its surgery.

“I was able to solve my debts and bought a plot of land,” he said.

But he said that he could not afford to build a house and that he had not been able to build one while recovering from surgery. He said he had been suffering back pain.

“I have to restart work soon. If the side effects attack again, I have to deal with that. I do not regret that,” he added.

He said he kept in touch with the recipient for a while, and she had told him that he was very healthy with his kidney.

Speaking under anonymity, he told the BBC that he paid 100 million kyats (between around $ 22,000 and $ 35,000 in recent years) in total. She denied that the documents were forged, maintaining that Zeya was her relative.

Six months after his surgery, Myo Win told the BBC that he had paid most of his debts, but not all.

“I have no job and I don’t even have a penny,” he said, and added that he had been experiencing some stomach problems from surgery.

He said he did not regret, but then added: “I am saying to other people who do not do this. It is not good.”