Black Market OrganTrade Baghdad's New Growth Industry

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Black Market Organ

Trade Baghdad's New

Growth Industry

By Saleh Al Jibouri in Baghdad and Colin Freeman

The Telegraph - UK

5-22-5

 

Ali Hameed quit his job as a taxi driver because he no longer felt

safe on Baghdad's streets. Increasingly desperate for money to help him get

married, he hit on a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity - selling one

of his kidneys.

 

Last week, in a shabby ward in the city's Al Karama hospital, he lay

bandaged on a bed, one kidney lighter and $1,400 (about £765) richer after a

three-hour operation.

 

Iraq factfile

 

In a nearby room, his body similarly bandaged, lay the man who had

paid for it - the other player in a grim new black market trade in organs

that is one of Iraq's few growth industries.

 

" I abandoned my taxi driving job because of the security situation, "

Mr Hameed, 22, told The Sunday Telegraph. " I thought about joining the

police or the army, but that is even more dangerous. There were no more

options, so I decided to sell my kidney. I am still a young man, so I want

to marry and begin a business. "

 

Mr Hameed received a good price for his kidney. 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 cafÈs.

 

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.

 

As news of the black market trade has spread, however, wealthier

transplant " tourists " from around the Arab world have started flocking to

Baghdad, attracted by the rock-bottom prices.

 

If car bombs, kidnappings and robberies are a deterrent, the price

compares favourably to the $5,000 cost of a kidney on the black market in

Turkey, or $3,000 in India. In Iraq, the operation itself typically costs

$2,000. Even so, the risks are considerable. Baghdad's hospitals are filthy

and under-resourced.

 

If a patient succumbs to post-operative infection or other

complications, high-quality care cannot be guaranteed. The expertise needed

to carry out what is a relatively simple surgical procedure is in abundance,

however - the legacy of an era 15 years ago when Saddam Hussein's national

health service met First World standards.

 

While many medics disapprove of the trade outside their hospital, if

a transplant patient turns up with a willing donor, they tend not to ask too

many questions.

 

" Many of the unemployed young men undergo this kind of surgery to

get money, " said Dr Huthaim Al Saidi, who removed Mr Hameed's kidney. " I am

against the sale of organs, so I have a condition that I will only accept

donors who are relatives of the person needing the transplant. But the

private hospitals don't care who they get the organs from. "

 

In Arab society, however, the term " cousin " is often used to

describe someone who is a friend or a fellow tribe member. At Al Karama

hospital, it is not clear how rigidly the relatives-only rule is applied.

 

The recipient of Mr Hameed's kidney, Ammar Muhammed, a 20-year-old

college student, describes himself not as a blood relative or even an

in-law, but a " friend " . In many cases, " friend " appears to mean someone

whose relationship with the donor was struck up at the doors of the

hospital. " I was hit by shrapnel in a car bomb explosion on my way home in

Fallujah. It affected both of my kidneys, " he said. " Due to the lack of good

health care, they got worse. I don't care how much I pay - I want to

survive. "

 

The organised crime department of the Iraqi interior ministry has

formed a special unit to clamp down on the traders, whom it says frequently

dupe people into becoming donors.

 

Col Abdul Jabbar Abo Natiha, the head of the unit, said: " We caught

one donor from Basra who had originally come to Baghdad searching for a job.

A group of guys befriended him, gave him lodgings and then insisted he paid

a large amount of money in rent. They obliged him to sell his kidney to pay

it. He only got $70 out of the deal. "

 

In 2001, the going rate for a donor was $2,000. The fact that the

price has tumbled, some doctors say, suggests that Iraqis are even more

desperate for money now than they were under Saddam.

 

" It wasn't easy two or three years ago to find a donor, " said a

senior nurse at another Baghdad hospital. " Now patients' relatives need to

make no big effort. "

 

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.

 

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Short-Term Stress 'Makes

Us Live Longer'

http://www.rense.com/general65/ded.htm

By Nicole Martin

The Telegraph - UK

5-9-5

 

Short bursts of stress can help people stay young, according to

research which undermines the belief that a frenzied lifestyle can damage

your health.

 

Such exposure to stress will prolong life and help prevent chronic

illnesses such as arthritis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, Dr Marios

Kyriazis told an anti-ageing conference in London.

 

He recommended that, rather than avoiding stress, people should

subject themselves to mild doses of frantic activity, which might include

packing a suitcase in a hurry before catching a flight, or shopping for a

dinner party during the time limit of a lunch break.

 

Dr Kyriazis, the medical director of the British Longevity Society,

argued that moderate stress increased the production of proteins that help

to repair the body's cells, including brain cells, enabling them to work at

peak capacity.

 

" Research shows that cells subjected to stress repair themselves,

allowing us to live longer, " he said.

 

" As the body ages, this self-repair mechanism starts to slow down.

 

" The best way to keep the process working efficiently is to

'exercise it', in the same way that you would exercise your muscles to keep

them strong. "

 

Other stressful activities he recommended included giving a best

man's speech, following the instruction manual for a new DVD recorder,

volunteering to help at a youth club and redecorating a room over a weekend.

 

However, Dr Kyriazis insisted that long-term stress should be

avoided.

 

He said that prolonged stressful experiences, which could include

caring for an elderly relative, were bad for health.

 

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?.html