Liver traders go on the prowl

Liver “donor” Mehdi

Twenty-three-year old Mehdi Hasan from Bamongram in Kalai upazila had been lured into selling his kidney but ended up losing a part of his liver.
Md Abdus Sattar, who used to sell vegetables in Kalai, had enticed him to sell his kidney for Tk 2 lakh and took him to Dhaka in early May to have him operated, Mehdi told The Daily Star.
But several tests on him in a city hospital showed that his kidney did not match with that of the recipient, he said.
Later, Sattar introduced him to Saiful Islam Molla alias Daud, who has been arrested recently for the illegal trade. He talked Mehdi into selling a part of his liver for Tk 3 lakh.
“But I was unaware how this organ functions in my body,” Mehdi said.
While he hesitated over the offer, Saiful and his cohorts prepared all necessary papers including a certificate from the local Union Parishad chairman to meet the requirements of a hospital for the operation.
On May 8, a ten-hour operation was done on him at LabAid Hospital in the capital and his stitches were removed on May 29.
The hospital authorities, however, claimed that the papers submitted to them showed the donor and the recipient are relatives.
Joypurhat Civil Surgeon Mozammel Haque confirmed the incident on September 7 after Abdur Rakib, a consultant at Joypurhat Modern Hospital, examined Mehdi the previous day and found missing a lobe of his liver.
Several arrests in Kalai upazila of Joypurhat recently led investigators to expose how a nexus of criminals deceives needy people into selling their organs.
A team of doctors led by Dr Zulfiqur Rahman Khan of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital (BSMMUH) did the transplant operation from 8:00am to 6:00pm at LabAid hospital on May 8.
Dr Sharmin Zaman Urmee, a junior consultant at Clinical Pathology of LabAid Ltd, conducted all medical tests, show documents.
Dr Zulfiqur could not be contacted yesterday despite repeated attempts.
Dr Saifuddin Ahmed, a medical officer at the BSMMUH, said he had assisted the medical team with the liver transplant at LabAid Hospital on May 8. He said the hospital authorities were provided with necessary documents that showed the recipient Mir Giasuddin Ahmed is maternal uncle of donor Mehdi.
He said it is tough for a hospital to verify whether the donor and recipient are actually relatives or not.
The recipient died of heart disease a month after the transplant operation, said Dr Saifuddin.
He said only four liver transplant operations -- two at LabAid and two at BIRDEM -- have been done so far in Bangladesh.
Asked why he sold his organ, Mehdi said he heard that some people in Kalai had sold their kidneys for financial solvency, and it did not affect their health. His parents dead, Mehdi needed money to marry off his two younger sisters and buy land.
He said the recipient gave him Tk 1.5 lakh instead of Tk 3 lakh as promised by the broker.