THE ABUJA KIDNEY MARKET

In August 2023, It was recorded how Oluwatobi Adedoyin, a 16-year-old son of a mechanic from Masaka in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State was lured by his friend, Yellow to sell his kidney.

Oluwatobi was paid N1m in three installments, after which he was forced to flee Abuja.

Since then, the story has jolted a ring of kidney harvesting agents and a chain of victims that have come up to share their stories.

Ethically, organ donation is altruistic, based on the 2008 Istanbul declaration on Organ Trafficking and Tourism, which calls for the prohibition of organ commercialization.

Except in Iran, it is illegal to buy and sell organs all over the world, especially when medical personnel or health centres connive with ready-buyers or recipients to exploit minors or people from low economic backgrounds.

Despite this, the World Health Organization reveals that more than one kidney is traded on the black market every hour.

In November 2022, a video of a young man accusing Alliance Hospital in Abuja of harvesting his 17-year-old brother’s kidney went viral. In the video, the young man accused the hospital of lack of due diligence before the surgery. The management of the hospital had in a press conference denied the allegation, saying the ‘donor’ had signed a consent form and presented a court affidavit to show he was above 18 years.

But three months later, the hospital had in February 2023 harvested the kidney of Oluwatobi Adedoyin, another minor, and in June harvested that of Yahaya Musa, a 16-year-old despite the attention generated by the November 2022 video.

The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Christopher Otabor insists that the hospital does not source donors for its patients but only ensures that donors are qualified and compatible with patients to donate. Dr Otabor had in August told this newspaper that the hospital took care of the legal angle, insinuating that donors are expected to present affidavits and sign a consent form before the surgery.

Like Oluwatobi, whose kidney was harvested and implanted in one Egbuson Sampson, which the hospital claims is now deceased, Yahaya Musa was a minor when he was lured to sell his kidneys for N1m. A certificate of birth presented by the Bauchi Medical Board shows that he was born on September 9, 2007 in Bauchi State.

Lagos-based broker with the pseudonym Mayor, had recruited young boys to act as agents so as to lure boys like Oluwatobi and Yahaya to sell their kidneys to renal patients.

Many of the agents, including Yellow, Abdulrahman and Habib have equally sold a kidney each. The three agents had all worked for Mayor who introduced himself to Oluwatobi, as a staff of Alliance Hospital. The hospital, however, denied this claim and insisted that he is not on their payroll.

Organ harvest and transplantation is enshrined in Nigeria’s National Health Act 2014, section 54 (3) (a) and (b) of the act states, that the National Tertiary Health Institutions Standard Committee shall prescribe criteria for the approval of organ transplant facilities and also procedural measures to be applied for such approvals.

Content Credit:

Trust Radio | https://trustradio.com.ng/#gsc.tab=0

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Vanguard | https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/12/abuja-hospital-reacts-to-report-on-alleged-kidney-harvest/