A few years ago, a man reached Hokse, which has gained notoriety as a village where people sell their kidneys for survival. He promised to help Tamang find a job in India.[break]
Tamang, who was finding it difficult to feed his family, could not resist the offer.
A few days later, Tamang was taken to a house in Koteshwar, some 50 kilometers from Hokse. He slept there for the first night. The broker, according to Tamang, was of a Dalit caste (Sarki) and his wife was from Barhabise, a small town in Sindhupalchowk district.
Tamang was then taken to Siliguri, where they met a woman who gave the broker Rs 3,000 for train fare. The three then boarded the train to New Delhi.
After three days on the train, Tamang reached New Delhi and was taken to a home of a man, whose surname was Limbu. The broker asked Tamang to sit with Limbu and get acquainted with him. Then, the broker took a sum of money from Limbu and told Tamang that he must return home and that he would receive Rs 50,000.
Later, Limbu asked Tamang for a blood sample and convinced Tamang to sell one of his kidneys. With no one around for help, he ended up agreeing to sell his kidney.
Following the procedure, he was given Rs. 1,000 for bus fare back to Nepal and told he would get the rest of the promised amount in Hoske. Left with nothing in Kathmandu, Tamang received help from some of his friends to return home.
Now, Tamang sits looking over his small portion of land, shrinking livestock, and exclaims that he still has no money, no job, and no education for his three children. "It is a regret I will always have," he sighs.
Kavre has become one of the world´s leading targets for trafficking of human organs.
In 2013, the going rate for a human kidney is anything between Rs 500,000 to 1,000,000. Residents of Lamidanda, a smaller village in Kavre, are well aware of the kidney market but these hapless locals are lured into selling their kidneys for as low as Rs 50,000.
Sharada Shrestha, a local, explains that a Nepali broker comes door to door in Hokse seeking the poor and the low caste offering to buy their kidneys. People residing in Hokse are not willing to speak about the kidney market. However, there is more to their silence than the stigma associated with the issue.
Buddhi Man Tamag, a local in Hokse, says, "We are targeted in this village and exploited for our organs because we are poor and do not have other options. We continue to be humiliated by the outside people. But there is never any help or support,” he says.
Buddhi Man adds that their family as a whole suffers when a member of the family sells his/her kidney. “The whole family is in trouble because after one sells his kidney, he becomes weak and cannot work to support his family." He asks that aid be sent to their community in the form of medical attention, jobs, and education for their children.
Dhulikhel Hospital, located in the headquarters of Kavre, claims that these victims rarely get seen or treated. Dr Bijaya Krishna Prajapati of the hospital says that an individual can sell his /her kidney and still live a normal life without any complications.
However, Prajapati is reminded of a recent case when the hospital treated a pregnant woman missing a kidney. She was seeking medical treatment when the doctors called Dr Prajapati in to see her. When asked about her missing kidney, she refused to speak and would not allow the doctors to examine that part of her body.
Sociologist Ganesh Gurung has been an active in studying the organ black market. His recent efforts go toward enactment of law relating to organ trafficking. Under the existing laws, organs can only be given to family members, making the 200-300 kidney transplant demand each year impossible to fill.
Negotiations are under way with the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) to find out a solution.
Gurung is working with the Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS) to combat organ trafficking through a two-pronged support system. The first step: making victims aware of the medical consequences they may suffer as a result of losing a kidney and educate them about Nepal´s regulations relating to organ trafficking. Step two: enter villages and abolish the origin of the problem.
According to Gurung, NIDS has been working for four years on this program and has sent a medical team to conduct medical checkup of the victims. NIDS aims to carry out regular medical checkups of locals in these communities.
Gurung estimates that the buying and selling of kidneys in Nepali villages began a decade ago and believes the practice would continue until proper laws are enacted.
Related story
Poverty: A Multidimensional Problem, Nepalese Context
