Poverty Stricken Iranians Go To Iraq To Sell Their Kidneys In Dollars

A new report has revealed that many Iranians go to Iraq to sell their kidneys because they can get more money for their organ and in US dollars.

The head of the support group for kidney patients in the western city of Kermanshah, Hossein Biglari, said in an interview on Friday that many people go to the capital Tehran to sell their kidneys because there are brokers there who help them get better prices.

He added that the regulations by the support association of kidney patients forbid buying an organ from people who don’t reside in the same city, therefore the transplant candidates have to forge documents to pretend they live in Tehran.

Such restrictions along with the high exchange rate of the US dollar in Iran have encouraged many people selling their kidneys for money to go to Iraq, he noted.

The official price for a kidney is nearly $3,000 in today’s rates but this is far from the market price for a kidney which is completely arbitrary and can top $10,000 upon agreement between donors and recipients, Biglari said.

Another official from the kidney patients support association of the northern Gilan province, Houshang Rezvanpanah, says the number of people who want to sell their kidneys is increasing due to “poverty and financial problems”.

He said most of the sellers want to use the money to buy a car to work as a driver or have put money down to rent an apartment.