Iran's lucrative kidney market
Home to the world's only legalized kidney market, Iran is seeing a boom in the kidney trade.
TEHRAN, Iran — The walls of the Hasheminejad Specialist Hospital just off Tehran’s Vanak Square is covered with notices that serve as a market for an uncommon item: human kidneys.
The notices include details of sellers such as blood type, age and phone numbers. When Al-Monitor’s correspondent paid a visit, these details were expressed in sentences such as “healthy woman, 22, B+, 0927***9459” or “liver and kidney, negotiable price.”
Similarly, buyers write their numbers on the walls in hopes of finding sellers. One of the notices said, “In the name of God, a 29-year-old woman with the blood type O+ needs a kidney. Donors who are willing to help her can contact the following number.”
The kidney market in Iran, which is legal, is indeed sizable, lucrative — and growing.
