JAKARTA, 8 January 2010 (IRIN): Thomas, 30, said mounting debt forced him to take the desperate step of selling a kidney on the internet for 300 million rupiah (32.400 US dollar).
– I have to take my chances because that’s the only way I can get the money to pay off my debt, Thomas, who declined to give his surname, told IRIN by telephone.
Thomas is one of the increasing numbers of Indonesians who offer their kidneys for sale on free web sites because of poverty and debt.
A Google search reveals an increasing number of websites containing “Kidney for sale” advertisements in the Indonesian language.
According to a survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics in March 2009, 32,5 million Indonesians, or 14,15 per cent of the population of 230 million, live below the poverty line. Indonesia’s poverty rate dropped 1,3 percent in 2009 from 15,4 percent the previous year, according to the bureau.
Organ trafficking fears
Officials said the scale of illegal organ trafficking in Indonesia was not known, but the internet phenomenon had raised concerns about the scourge.
Subagyo Partodiharjo, a doctor and member of a parliamentary commission on health affairs, said some of those who posted the internet ads were brokers who talked poor people into selling their kidneys.
He said they could be part of illegal organ trading rings operating in villages.
– This is clearly illegal trade. This is not only an issue of poverty but also criminal, Partodihardjo told IRIN.
– People were told their kidneys are expensive and because they are poor or in debt, they are tempted to sell them, he said.
A Singapore court in 2008 convicted two Indonesian men of selling their kidneys, in what the media described as the first such case in the city state.
Partodiharjo said it was hard to enforce the ban because organ trading was largely unmonitored.
Global problem
National police spokesman Edward Aritonang said in practice, determining whether an organ donation was for commercial or humanitarian purposes was not easy.
– They are considered as donors, as long as it’s their own healthy kidney, approved by doctors and doesn’t pose a danger to the patients, Aritonang told IRIN.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the shortage of organs is a global problem, with potential recipients travelling outside their home country to obtain organs through sometimes illegal commercial transactions.
Only 10 per cent of the estimated need was met in 2005. As a result, the illegal kidney trade has increased tremendously over the past few years, although the extent of illegal kidney transplants is unknown.
