If you’re looking for a cheap kidney then the Philippines is the place to go.
According to figures released this week by Asia Against Child Trafficking, poor Filipinos are being shortchanged when it comes to living non-related organ donation.
Compare these figures:
United States: £15,000
Israel: £8,000
Turkey: £4,000
Brazil: £3,000
Moldova: £1,400
Romania: £1,400
Philippines: £750
Saudi Arabian and Japanese hospitals have been taking advantage of these bargain prices for some time now, often sending their renal patients to the Philippines to bag themselves a cheap organ from a living donor.
The Filipino donors themselves are complaining, one man from a Manila slum said:
“The money is long gone now, and I am still poor,”
And there are risks involved too, the donor continued his story saying that a friend of his who also donated a kidney died seven years later from complications and another donor accidentally killed his pregnant wife due to donating. He used the money he raised from the sale to buy a handgun and accidentally shot her.
Filipino surgeons and consultants however are making a good profit from these transactions, the parts are as low as £750 but when you include labour the cost of a transplant in the Philippines will be around £15,000.
You may have to move fast though, new legislation is being draughted that might see a complete ban on kidney transplants being performed on foreigners.
