Organs for Sale

Steen Jensen, Director, DR TV

The marketing of human organs is condemned in most places, but continues to grow as rich Western patients cannot obtain the needed organs through donation in their own countries. Poor people in third world countries are prepared to sell an organ in order to obtain cash that is equivalent to several years' wages.

Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world where the organ trade is not illegal although it is a controversial subject, not willingly talked about. This film follows a patient in desperate need of a kidney. Jim is a young father who has been waiting for a kidney for six years, during which time his health has deteriorated. He believes he can wait no longer and finds a donor through the internet. Paying several thousand dollars, he risks the hazards of such an operation in a foreign land, from doctors he has never met.

Using hidden cameras the film follows the three week journey of Jim and his wife up to the time of the surgery and afterwards. The filmmakers also meet with other Pakistani donors. Many regret their decisions since they do not received post-operative care and often have health problems afterwards.

Jim's transplant is a success and he can look forward to a normal, healthy life. His donor now has the money to buy a plot of land and build a house. The film is sympathetic to both parties, presenting the viewer with a challenging bio-ethical problem.

58 min. Videoor DVD. Sale $295. Video rental $75.Subtitled.

"Highly Recommended. Organs for Sale discloses the growing practice of those desperate to buy organs and of the economically poor ripe for exploitation." Emarosa Tominich, Trocaine college Library, Buffalo, NY for EMRO