Dying Brits pay £75,000 for transplants on Facebook as criminal gangs cash in on terminally ill

From mirror.co.uk - BY NICK SOMMERLAD

Some penniless people are so desperate for money just to survive they are willing to sell their organs on Facebook for as little as £1,200.

“In countries where it is illegal to offer organs for sale we would restrict content from being viewed when we receive an official request to do so.”

Buying or selling a kidney in Britain is illegal and can be punished by three years in jail.

But with more than 10,000 needing organs and one Brit dying every day on the waiting list, patients are taking desperate measures.

Our investigation found hundreds have travelled to countries such as Pakistan, India and China, where laws may be less strictly enforced, to pay for new organs.

They are increasingly being lured by unscrupulous “dealers” on websites who match poor donors with paying patients, for a hefty fee.

But nearly half come back with serious infections and they are seven times more likely to die than those who get transplants on the NHS.

Within days of posting a request for a kidney for a sick relative on Facebook, we were messaged by a string of donors and fixers.

One, called “Sam”, claimed he could arrange legal kidney ­transplants for £75,000 within 20 days.

Confirming he was a “facilitator”, he said: “We will provide a healthy donor. The donor should be between 23 and 30 years old.

“We will take care of everything. If you come Sunday night you can start the process on Monday morning. Within one week we can finish surgery. We have done more than 100 transplants up until now.”

Sam claimed he could get ­permission from the Sri Lankan government to carry out unrelated transplants, when the donors and recipients are not family.

Asked how much the donor gets paid, he replied: “We can’t tell you but he will get a good payment.”

We understand crooks get around Sri Lanka’s laws against the kidney trade by pretending to the authorities that no money has changed hands.

Sam added: “We need to fill out some local paperwork. We will get it, guaranteed, no doubt.” The vile trade in human organs is worth £1billion a year to criminals.

Fiona Loud of the British Kidney Patient Association described it as a “trade in human misery”. She added: “It’s a shady world and it is mixed up with ­organised crime.

“The only people to gain are the brokers and middle men.

“You would be extremely ill-advised to buy a kidney on ­Facebook. People do get desperate. They wait a long time.

“Sometimes people never get the transplant they want. But I have spoken to doctors who have seen the consequences of people going abroad to buy a kidney.

“The outcomes are not good.

“Generally the standards of hygiene are not the same. People may come back here infected with HIV from the ­transplanted organ.

“A transplant from a living donor is an excellent treatment. But in the UK there are very strict ethical and legal guidelines. There are checks in place to ensure the donor is not under duress.”

Doctor revealed 40 British ­“transplant tourists” have travelled abroad to buy kidneys in 10 years from the West Midlands alone.

Most were ­originally from south Asia but one was Chinese and one white.

In age they varied from 28 to 87 and more than half had not been put on the UK waiting list because they were obese or had other health issues such as heart conditions.

Of those who contacted us through Facebook offering kidneys was a taxi driver from Karnataka, India, saying his was going for less than £10,000.

Another seller, Muhammad Asghar, 41, of Karachi, ­Pakistan, wants to sell his kidney to fund treatment for his badly disabled daughter Amna.

The dad-of-three posted his ­telephone number on a page called Kidney Donors/Receivers ­Pakistan along with his blood group type and wrote: “If anyone need b+ kidney, then contact me.”

Six-year-old Amna has been ­paralysed since birth and is deaf and mute.

Muhammad, who runs a roadside snack stall outside his house, is desperate to find £12,000 for a cochlear implant that would allow his daughter to hear.

He said: “I want to sell my kidney to pay for her ­treatment

“I am struggling for funds. I have no price but will sell to whoever offers me the most.”

Naim Muchtak, 25, from ­Islamabad, posted: “I want to sell my kidney on urgent basis, blood group A+, because of some heavy problems.”

He is prepared to part with the organ for just £1,900.

We asked if he had sold his kidney yet and he replied: “No. Two people have approached. I know it is illegal but they said they would find some legal solution.

“One of my buyers was from Kuwait and another from Australia. I can’t keep up my day-to-day ­financial needs and mounting debt is forcing to sell one of my kidneys.

"This may not be a big sum for many but it is very big for me.”

A third seller had agreed a price of £2,500 with a buyer in Pakistan.

Kidney Donors/Receivers ­Pakistan has been running for more than three years.

Despite disclaimers pointing out that “selling organs is a crime”, hundreds of donors and buyers have used the page to advertise the trade.

The youngest ever kidney donor in Britain was baby Teddy Houlston, who was just 100 minutes old when he died in Cardiff in April last year.