Friday, November 15, 2013

Kidneys for sale

"Every year, tens of thousands of rich Arabs from around the region come to Beirut for treatment in the country's excellent hospitals. The authorities don't pay attention whether a patient flies home with a new nose -- or with a new kidney. Previously, it was mostly destitute Palestinians who sold their organs. Then came the war in Syria, and then the refugees. Now the groups are in competition and the prices are falling." "Experts estimate that 5,000 to 10,000 kidneys are illegally transplanted per year worldwide. "Many of our products go abroad to, for example, the Persian Gulf," said Abu Hussein. But Big Man also has customers in the US and Europe, he said."