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Inside Iran’s Desperate Kidney Market: People Offering Organs for Sale on the Streets
In some parts of Iran, scenes that seem almost unbelievable have become increasingly common: young men riding around on motorcycles, posting flyers, or even approaching strangers offering to sell one of their kidneys. For many, it is not a shocking stunt but a desperate attempt to escape crushing poverty.
Iran is unique in the world because it has a system that allows individuals to receive payment for donating a kidney. Since the late 1980s, the country has operated a government-regulated transplant program where donors can be compensated, making it the only nation with a semi-legal market for kidney sales. The system was designed to reduce transplant waiting lists and increase organ availability.
However, the reality on the streets often looks very different from the official system.
Ads, Flyers and Street Offers
In cities such as Tehran and Isfahan, posters advertising kidneys for sale have appeared on walls, near hospitals, and in busy areas. Many ads simply list the seller’s blood type and a phone number, with messages like: “Healthy kidney for sale – O+ blood group – price negotiable.”
Reports from local observers say some people actively approach potential buyers, sometimes riding around on motorcycles or bicycles carrying signs or flyers offering their organs. These sellers are often young men struggling with unemployment or debt.
Poverty Driving the Trade
The driving force behind this phenomenon is economic hardship. Years of international sanctions, inflation, and unemployment have pushed many Iranians into financial desperation. Some individuals say selling a kidney is the only way they can pay rent, clear debts, or support their families.
Younger generations have also begun entering the organ market. Reports indicate people in their late teens and early twenties are advertising kidneys for sale, sometimes asking for hundreds of millions of tomans to cover housing costs or personal debt.
A Controversial System
Supporters of Iran’s transplant system argue that it has eliminated long waiting lists for kidney transplants and saved many lives. By compensating donors, they say the country ensures a steady supply of organs and allows poor people to earn money legally.
Critics, however, say the system effectively turns human organs into commodities and disproportionately exploits the poor. Wealthier patients are often the ones able to pay, while donors are usually people facing severe financial hardship.
The Human Cost
For many sellers, the decision is life-changing. Removing a kidney can lead to long-term health risks, and some donors later regret their decision when the money runs out but the physical consequences remain.
Despite the controversy, the kidney market continues to exist across Iran, driven by a harsh economic reality where, for some people, selling a part of their own body seems like the only way to survive.
Attached is a news article regarding people selling kidneys in Iran
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/10/kidneys-for-sale-organ-donation-iran
Article written and configured by Christopher Stanley
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