2024-09-05 16:42:12
Desperate Myanmar citizens are traveling to India to sell their organs, CNN reports, in a disturbing trend driven by extreme poverty and the threat of starvation in Myanmar.
Maung Maung, who spoke to CNN in 2022, decided to sell his kidney after his family faced severe food shortages. His family fell into debt after he was detained and tortured by the junta. “I felt life was so harsh,” Maung says. “There was no other way to survive except to rob or kill people for money.”
Maung, who sold his kidney in July 2023, received 10 million Burmese kyats ($3,079). While that amount is nearly double the average annual income of urban households in Myanmar, it is far less than the black market value of a kidney, which can reach $120,000, according to a 2021 study.
Maung’s case is part of a larger trend. Many people in Myanmar sell organs through Facebook and other channels, often with the help of agents who facilitate these illegal transactions. Facebook has removed some of these organ-trading groups but has not responded to requests for comment.
In India, organ donations are legally restricted to relatives. Agents forge documents to circumvent these rules. The Myanmar embassy in New Delhi is checking these documents in an attempt to stop the illegal trade.
A 26-year-old woman who also sold her kidney told CNN: “Nobody wants to sell a part of their body. I do it because I have no choice.” She was forced to work in a garment factory for meager wages and was looking for funds to help her aunt, who had cancer.
An anonymous buyer shared her experience. She circumvented legal restrictions by marrying an organ donor. She paid 12 million kyat ($3,695) and said: “We had to spend weeks making up our stories. They know we are lying, but they ignore the warning signs.”
A source in the organ trade said the Myanmar embassy was aware of the document falsifications but remained passive.
Meanwhile, Myanmar is in the midst of a severe economic crisis: the value of the kyat has plummeted and inflation has skyrocketed. According to the World Bank, poverty is at its highest in six years and economic growth is stagnating at 1%. “This is chaos, entirely caused by the regime’s economic policies,” says analyst David Matheson.
The junta’s crackdown, including arrests and currency interventions, has worsened the crisis. Prices for basic necessities, including food and medicine, have skyrocketed. “Transportation costs have doubled or tripled,” says a grocery store owner. The national unity government has criticized the military for lacking a coherent economic strategy, exacerbating the country’s unrest.
Earlier, Cursor wrote that the Briton with the largest penis in the world made a confession about the difficulties of his life.