Since news of former Senator Ike Ekweremmadu and his wife broke the Nigerian news sphere yesterday, over an organ harvesting charge, some Nigerians have been confused and unsure about what the term “Organ Harvesting” really meant and its implications for the prominent Nigerians caught.
Organ harvesting means killing a human being on demand. It involves selling and transplanting the victims’ organs, according to the International Society for Human Rights. The practice of transplanting organs is most common in countries such as India, China, and the Sinai Peninsula located in Egypt.
Organ Harvesting is an acclaimed profitable venture albeit illegal. Organs like kidneys, for instance, can be bought for an average amount of about 150,000 thousand dollars. Certain individuals voluntarily trade their body organs on the black market to traffickers for money according to reports by a Delta-net international Journal. Healthy and sound individuals can, however, survive with one of their kidneys but this isn’t always the case.
Harvesting organs is a very risky procedure as it involves major surgical work to remove the needed organ. In some worst-case scenarios, it could lead to death. Other risky scenarios one could encounter when harvesting the organ of a live participant are Severe pain, Blood clots, Serious infection, Pneumonia, Lung collapse, etc. Most times, proper hygiene isn’t followed during the surgery and this could lead to a serious infection in the donor.
Organ Harvesting is illegal in almost all countries save for Iran where one could buy and sell the organ. However, donation of body organs for medical reasons is not outlawed but there are no monetary benefits tied to it.
