Do you need a "black transplant specialist"? Go to Ukraine!

"TO SAVE MY BELOVED WOMAN, I SOLD MY KIDNEY IN UKRAINE FOR 13 THOUSAND DOLLARS"Irina KOPROVSKAYA, "FACTS" (published on the portal "Fourth Power")

A former donor advises those wishing to sell their organs... contact domestic surgeons! The journalist of "FACTS" was convinced: illegal organ transplantation is possible in our country.

"I'll help you find a hospital to sell a kidney. I've already sold it myself." I came across this ad on the Internet. I called the specified mobile number. "Let's meet," a calm male voice replied. – Such questions are not solved over the phone."

According to legend, I, a 27-year-old teacher of one of the private universities in the capital, am in dire need of money. They say, I took a loan from the bank for an apartment, counting on the help of parents living in the Poltava region. However, due to the crisis, Dad and mom were reduced. My teaching salary, which is only two and a half thousand hryvnias, is not enough to repay the loan. If I don't pay the loan debt within three months, the bank will take the apartment. For the sake of my own housing in Kiev, I am ready to sell a kidney.

With Valery (the man's name has been changed) we met in a coffee shop in the center of Kiev. Valery has a pleasant face and kind blue eyes. I imagined intermediaries for the sale of organs somewhat differently. I was even more surprised to learn that he brings together potential donors... with the doctors of one of the Ukrainian transplant centers!

"When the woman for whom I sold my kidney went to another, I drank a bottle of vodka in one gulp"Diligently playing my role, I began to complain about the crisis.

Like, if it weren't for the credit trap, I wouldn't have to sell myself in parts. But there is no other way out: you need to pay another thirty thousand dollars for the apartment.

– Now almost everyone wants to sell organs because of debts, - Valery supports the topic. – One girl from Donetsk is ready to give a kidney for eight thousand dollars, and a woman from Cherkasy agrees to seven thousand. Don't worry: I'll help arrange everything. I will find people who need a kidney transplant and arrange a meeting with them.

– And how much will I get for a kidney? They write on the Internet that the average price is 50 thousand dollars. I don't agree with less, but I want more.

– If you are offered 80 or 75 thousand dollars for a kidney, this is an obvious setup, – Valery patiently explains. – Such money will not be paid in any country. The real cost of a kidney is from 10 to 20 thousand dollars, depending on the urgency of the operation and the state of health of the donor.

– You're deceiving me. I've seen ads where they give a hundred thousand dollars for a kidney!

– The Internet is very often "thrown". A 24-year-old guy from Dnepropetrovsk was promised 85 thousand dollars. They said: if the kidney fits, we immediately give 50 thousand dollars in our hands. The remaining 35 thousand dollars were promised after the operation. He believed it, went to Georgia for surgery. He was given 17 and a half thousand dollars in his hands. They explained that transportation costs, examination and surgeons' fees were deducted from the total amount. Another girl from the Luhansk region agreed with an intermediary about an operation in Egypt. I was counting on 40 thousand dollars, I borrowed one and a half thousand dollars for the trip. As a result, they took her kidney and didn't give her a penny. She now gives the borrowed money out of her salary.

You need to be extremely careful not to fall into a trap. Believe me, there are a lot of scammers. For example, a certain Elena from Moscow calls for all the latest announcements of donors on the Internet. He says: I will give you the contacts of a foreigner who is willing to pay 75 thousand dollars for a kidney. The operation needs to be done in Egypt, they say, the customer often goes there on business. Elena asks for 5 thousand dollars for her intermediary services. And people follow her lead! Several dozen donors have already transferred money to her, and she gives new bank account numbers every time.

– You want to say that you work honestly. I wonder how much your services cost?

– They don't cost anything. I help people selflessly.

– Why are you doing this?

– I've been through it myself. I know who is doing this and why.

– Did you also sell a kidney because of debts?

– No, – Valery pauses, lighting a cigarette. – I sold my kidney for the sake of the woman I love. It's a long story... My family life didn't work out. I got married early and divorced early. Five years ago I met her. Such a meeting happens, probably, once in a lifetime. It was exactly my woman. I was going crazy just from her smell. We couldn't live without each other. If she didn't call for two hours, I was going nuts. I dialed her phone, and when I heard the voice of my beloved, I let go... In general, she got into trouble. I worked as an accountant, I screwed up something there. If I hadn't returned the money, I would have gone to court. My beloved had to be saved, and I found a way out. I spent several weeks on the Internet until I probed all the schemes. I decided to do the operation in Ukraine. Three years ago, my kidney was transplanted to a 57-year-old Israeli. I was given 13 thousand dollars, and I received another thousand dollars as a gift from that person. The money was just enough to get my woman out of an unpleasant story.

– How noble! Your woman is very lucky to have met such a knight.

– Yes, – Valery smiles sadly. – She left me. She didn't even leave a note. She just took her things and disappeared. In the evening, her friend called me. She said, they say, my woman has gone to another man and asks not to look for her. I remember opening the refrigerator, taking out a bottle of vodka and drinking it in one gulp. I thought: now I'm definitely screwed. At that time, less than a year after the operation, the doctor categorically forbade drinking alcohol. But nothing happened. In the morning, only my head hurt...

"Why go to a foreign country without a guarantee to return alive? It is better to sell a kidney in Ukraine without risking either life or health"– And how do you feel after the removal of the kidney?

Will I also not be able to drink alcohol afterwards? I love champagne!

– I don't have any health problems, – Valery reassures. – You definitely can't drink beer and red wine, but I think you can have half a glass of champagne. On holidays, I allow myself to drink up to a hundred grams of vodka, but no more. And I feel great.

Are you wondering why I became an intermediary? But I'm not an intermediary, I just help people. My friend left with a group of donors to have an operation in Turkey. None of the five people returned. Friends told about the second case. The intermediary took three people to Russia, and they promised everyone a lot of money. No one else saw these people... That's why I posted my ad on the Internet. They call all the time, but many do not believe that I want to help in a friendly way. I recommend everyone to do the operation in Ukraine. In Georgia, Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Egypt, kidneys are removed in private clinics. And in Ukraine there is a serious medical base, operations are performed in a state hospital. Foreigners, and most often they come here as buyers, are more expensive to operate in Ukraine than in Georgia or Russia. But they appreciate our surgeons. Why would you go to a foreign country to sell your kidney without a guarantee to return alive? It is better to have an operation in Ukraine without risking either life or health.

Valery named one of the Ukrainian transplant centers where his doctor friend operates. There you can go through all the necessary tests to make sure that my kidney is suitable for transplantation. After that, Valery promised to find a buyer. I will have to come to the buyer to take a blood group compatibility test in his country. If it turns out that my kidney suits him, you can start haggling. However, as Valery convinced me, no one will offer more than 15 thousand dollars. But all expenses for medical services are paid by the buyer.

– The doctor I bring donors to is a leading specialist in his field, – Valery convinces me. – I know for sure that he will do everything in the best possible way. Besides, he is a decent person, does not deceive his patients. I'll vouch for that. Recently, the parents of an eight-year-old adopted boy who was infected with hepatitis during a haircut at a barber shop called. The child needed a liver transplant. I helped to find a donor in Russia, had an operation, everything went well.

The problem is that in Ukraine, according to the law on transplantation, only relatives or legal spouses of an organ in need of transplantation can legally be donors. The scheme by which the surgeons of the medical center indicated by Valery circumvent the law is ingeniously simple. For example, a 45-year-old Austrian needs a kidney transplant. He terminates his marriage with his spouse and enters into a new one... with a Ukrainian woman! (If an Austrian is single, this only accelerates the process of legalizing the operation in Ukraine.) They urgently collect all the documents, register the marriage here, and a citizen of Ukraine already as a legitimate wife gives him her kidney. Of course, after the successful completion of the transaction, the marriage is dissolved. Nothing illegal...

"If Ukrainian surgeons had a salary like American surgeons, they would never have gone for it!"To make sure that Valery is telling the truth, my friend called him.

Posing as a French citizen, she asked for help finding a donor for her 60-year-old spouse. They say he has been on dialysis for two years, suffers from pain and needs a kidney transplant. Valery arranged a meeting with my friend with the head of the department of one of the Ukrainian transplant centers. The woman played a real show in the doctor's office, begging him to help her husband.

– In Ukraine, organ trafficking is criminally punishable, – the head began cautiously.

– But we really, really need an operation! Can you help?

– Do you have a donor?

– No, but Valery said that his friend, a young girl, wants to sell her organ.

– You need your husband to marry her. Provide the embassy with all the necessary documents and you can contact us. By the way, our operation costs three to four times cheaper than in European countries.

The manager did not name the cost of the operation out loud, but wrote on a piece of paper and showed it to my friend – 80 thousand dollars.

Interestingly, the manager did not even bother to ask the woman for documents. Is the doctor really so gullible? Or did he just not have any punctures yet? My friend is a sentimental woman. The conversation with the doctor touched her in her own way.

– I feel so sorry for the Ukrainian doctors! – says an imaginary French citizen. – This manager is such a handsome, intelligent man! Can you imagine how much he had to study, work on himself to become a surgeon and take the place of the head? And such a person has to get involved in dark affairs, risk his reputation... If Ukrainian surgeons were paid like American surgeons, they would never have done this!

Experts started talking about the possible existence of a shadow market for human organ trafficking in Ukraine in 2006, when the number of kidney transplant operations almost doubled. This is evidenced by the data of the Coordination Center of Transplantology of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. Doctors explain: they say, relatives have become more likely to donate their organs. However, experts insist: the market of commercial donors is flourishing in our country.

"FACTS" contacted the Center for Public Relations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and asked whether law enforcement officers monitor ads for the sale of organs on the Internet, whether they conduct operations to suppress the facts of sale. The answer was, "No."

Then we turned to the chief transplantologist of Ukraine with the question: is there a real need to change the law to allow organ transplants from strangers?

– To date, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine does not plan to initiate amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Transplantation of organs and other anatomical human materials" in this part, – Alexander Kukharchuk answers. – Society is not ready for this yet.

At the same time, about two thousand people need a kidney transplant every year. For comparison: in 2007, 117 kidney transplants were performed in Ukraine, and in 2008 – 103. That is, only one out of twenty people in need of a transplant received an organ.

P. S. The editorial board of [Facts] has evidence confirming the facts given in the material. Bearing in mind the Law of Ukraine "On Printed Mass Media (Press)", we reserve the right to keep our sources of information anonymous.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru13.04.2009