Hang On To That Last Kidney, Shakeel
“What will we do for money”, Shakeel Ahmed’s aged father asked, as he wiped his eyes. “He was the only one earning in the family. I have another son who is unemployed and a daughter who is divorced with five children.” Shakeel’s parents are looking after him in hospital after he was recently underwent surgery to remove a kidney. Nothing so unusual, perhaps, except that this was without his consent. In India the supply is nowhere near the demand for kidneys, and the illegal trade is booming. Shakeel went to Delhi looking for work and was picked up by two men who offered him a construction job. “They drove me to a house far away. On the way they asked me some strange questions, like if I had any disease.” He was moved to another house with two other men and given an injection. “When I woke up,” he said, “I felt this terrible pain in my abdomen. They told me they had taken out my kidney. I thought I was going to die,” he said.
