KAMPALA-(MaraviPost)-Hundreds of impoverished Ugandans youths have turned to selling their bodily organs, particularly kidneys, in exchange for improved incomes for themselves and their families.
Kidney sale in the country is no longer unusual as it has become the immediate source of income for the youngsters due to widespread unemployment rates.
A report by Monitor indicated that organ buyer is paying an average of $150,000 (Shs528m) on essential organs such as the kidney, liver, or heart while a willing donor will typically receive between $5,000 (Shs176m) and $20,000 (approximately Shs70m) for a kidney, with the intermediaries receiving an equal portion.
The report also indicated that many Ugandans continue to believe that selling a kidney is a secure and simple way to raise funds.
Despite the organs business selling as hot cakes, thousands of people have been duped or drugged, and their organs have been stolen without their permission in the streets of the country.
Some people have also been reportedly forced to give up their organs so that they can be sold on the black market unlawfully with no returns while some have been dubbed to donate kidneys in exchange for huge rewards in the workplaces.
In 2021, authorities nabbed 62 Ugandan doctors for allegedly extracting body organs from patients before selling them to their local collaborators who also in turn sell them on the global black market.
