Dozens of men stood sideways in two rows, proudly lifting their shirts, holding their hands on their chests, revealing a clear scar on the side of their waists—
That's the "record" they left behind when they sold their kidneys.
The kidney sellers gathered in the Basseco district, just a five-minute drive from Manila, the capital of the Philippines, with a population of just 50,000 and 3,000 people who have sold their kidneys according to authorities.
The reason why this "kidney condition" occurs is because the locals believe that a "huge amount of money" from selling kidneys can make them rich.
And is this really the case?
Selling Kidneys: The Poor's "Wealth Code"
Locally, selling kidneys is a man's way of getting rich.
Without a kidney, you can buy a car, buy a house, and marry a wife.
Compared with two or three years of hard work, the money from selling kidneys is like demolition money, which comes quickly and fragrantly.
But there are too many people, and even the black production of organ trading is rolled up: the intermediary will divide the kidney sellers into three, six, nine, etc. according to age and physical health, and those who do not meet the conditions are not eligible to buy and sell.
As a result, the organ trade became a buyer's market, and the kidney sellers at the bottom of the trading chain competed fiercely for this windfall.
Some people do not hesitate to lie about their age, and some people are willing to reduce their own prices, whether it is illegal or not, whether it will hurt themselves, they never consider.
People who sell kidneys get poorer and poorer
In the competition, Danielo, a poor welder with superior physical conditions, was "lucky" to be selected.
Before that, he lived with his wife and two children in an abandoned livestock shed.
He wants a decent home and a better living environment for his family, so he is very active in selling kidneys.
Fortunately, the operation went well, and the welder Danielo got the money he wished, which was a "huge amount" of money to buy a house in the slum.
However, the good times did not last long, and the slums caught fire and the welder's house was burned to the ground.
To this day, the family still lives in the shed area, and it is a luxury to protect them from the wind and rain.
And after selling his kidney, Danilo lost his job because he couldn't do manual labor.
In the future, there is still no end to poverty.
But among the kidney sellers, his experience turned out to be quite good.
"My neighbor died of complications seven years after selling his kidney."
"A distant cousin married his wife after selling his kidneys, and then once drunkenly killed his pregnant wife with a black gun bought for kidney money."
"My friend has kidney disease but didn't find out before selling his kidney, and now he has passed away from kidney failure."
For kidney sellers, being alive is the greatest luck.
Global source of cheap kidneys
Are kidneys really expensive?
Look at the region – the poorer the country, the lower the price.
The World Health Organization estimates that the average price of a kidney in the Philippines is $1,500 (about 10,000 yuan), but it is $2,700 in Central European countries, $10,000 in South America, and $2 to $30,000 in the United States.
Prices in the Philippines are not high, but the money for selling kidneys is far from the standard of a rich life.
The "good days" come and go quickly, and kidney sellers still struggle with the poverty line and eventually lose their healthy bodies to work for the future.
As a result of the inability to work, life has become poorer and poorer.
A life without a kidney
Normal people have two kidneys, and the most important function is to purify the blood and filter out the waste products that the body does not want. In addition, the kidneys regulate blood pressure, promote hematopoiesis, and protect bones.
In order to maintain the stability of the internal environment, the kidneys must work continuously, and such a large amount of work is done by the division of labor of small factories "kidney units" in the kidneys.
There are 2 million kidney units in both kidneys, and only 400,000 are needed to handle daily work, and the rest of the kidney units can rest.
It is reasonable to say that even if the body has only one kidney, it can maintain the normal function of the body. However, the number of kidney units is not set in stone and is non-renewable once reduced.
The nature of the kidney's work means that it has to withstand almost everything that happens in the blood, and many common behaviors and diseases will deplete the kidney units early.
Even if life is smooth sailing, after the healthy people turn 40, every 10 years, 10% of the kidney units will naturally retire.
This means that people who have one kidney missing have an increased risk of kidney disease.
And the function of the kidneys is not only metabolism, but also secretes some important hormones that maintain the balance of the body - adrenaline.
Insufficient supply of hormones can make people easily tired, difficult to perform heavy physical labor, and as they age, they may completely lose their ability to work.
The sale of organs is strictly prohibited
Many people feel that the organ trade is a fair trade that is willing to fight a willing to be beaten, and it is not okay to take what is needed.
But people who sell kidneys are not sincerely trying to save people at all, what they want is money, and if they have money, who wants to sell themselves.
Buying and selling organs is essentially just taking advantage of their poverty.
Mainland law explicitly prohibits the sale of organs.
Because once the organ is allowed to be bought and sold, anyone's organ can become someone else's commodity, a life-sustaining battery that can be replaced at any time.
【References】
1. In order to get rid of poverty, Filipinos are selling kidneys.beebee planet.2021-04-08
2. Why are people who sell kidneys prone to uremia? .Medical Nephropathy Channel.2019-03-23
3.20 years old to lose a kidney, what does a kidney really mean for a man?.Family Doctor Online.2022-05-16