Netcare in KwaZulu-Natal performed illegal kidney transplants in its St Augustine's Hospital in Durban from 2001 to 2003. By illegal, we are talking about performing unnecessary surgery on "patients" for the sole purpose of selling their organs to others. A doctor who cuts up a human body for the purpose of selling the organs is no different to a butcher who cuts up animals for retail.
The hospital removed kidneys from more than 100 people during that period and paid them a measly 42000 Rand each, while it is said to have made R42-million from the operations. The Commercial Crimes Court fined it R3.8-million.
There are those who will say, "So what?" And in a world where money can buy anything, and everything is fair game for profit-makers, what's to stop people from turning human parts into another commodity? In a world that is governed by the principle of supply and demand, where those with money can buy anything, the inevitable result is a world in which rich recipients look for markets where they can buy body parts. The sad reality is that some poor person somewhere in the world will be forced to sell.
Today's rich prey on the poor. It is not surprising that the majority of the "donors" in the Netcare case were Brazilians. India is another country where the organ trade is rampant. Human organ trade has become a billion-dollar business around the world.
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