By Chioma Gabriel, Deputy Editor
Necessity, says an adage, is the mother of invention. And in Nigeria, the reluctance of relatives of kidney disease patients to donate kidneys to their diseased ones has opened a new business for voluntary donors who make millions by donating one of their kidneys to patients.

patient undergoing kidney surgery

The patient takes responsibility for transportation to India or wherever the transplant is to be done. The trip may last between six and 18 months during which a series of tests is conducted to ensure that there would be no complications and he (donor) would survive for many years on his remaining kidney. The same duration is also required after the transplant to ensure that the patient doesn’t suffer rejection after the transplant.

A new ‘association’ of donors which is still unofficial has been formed for the purpose of scouting for donors and their leader, Olugbemiga, (not real name), a 32-year-old youngman has already donated his kidney and now helps patients who need transplant to search for potential donors with matching blood group.

Olugbemiga who donated his kidney in 2006 said: “The patient had tried all he could in search of kidney but couldn’t get the match for his kidney because he has a rare blood group O negative. His family relations were scared that if they donated their kidney, something could happen to the remaining one and they could die but it’s not like that.

“I was fresh from secondary school and needed money to continue my education. My parents couldn’t afford to send me to the university and I decided to take the risk. I was paid N1.5 million then and taken to India where the transplant was done.

“The patient paid for the return ticket to India and took care of everything during our nine months stay. The pay was exclusive and not part of the return ticket or feeding. The patient takes care of all that and that still prevails.

“But now, our job is to seek donors with matching blood group and healthy kidneys and once we see a potential donor, he meets with the patient and discusses the terms of payment. Nowadays, some pay as much as N2.5 million depending on who is involved and how urgent.”

Olugbemiga said he had no home then but once he returned from India, he built a two-bedroom apartment with the money he was paid, and used the remaining to start a business of hawking electronics on the highways. These days, when he helps patients to get donors, he takes a percentage of what is paid but that, according to him, is not the attraction.

“When I was taken to the hospital in India, the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre Civil Hospital, I noticed that the fear over donating kidneys is baseless. It is only Africans, especially Nigerians that fear over giving their kidneys.

Patients from the United States of America and Europe come with their family members and after tests are conducted on them, the relations with the matching kidney is picked as a donor.

I learnt also that the best donor is someone that has identical features, usually, a brother or a sister but most Nigerians bring outsiders of the same blood group as donors.”

The husband of a kidney disease patient currently in India, Goddy, told Saturday Vanguard that getting a donor for his wife was not easy.

Our experience was quite overwhelming. In the first place, getting a referral letter to IKDCH in India was not easy. My wife was on dialysis here in Nigeria for over two years and we kept spending money on that. Eventually, we got a referral letter to India from a doctor after parting with $1,000.

We spent a fortune on treatment here in Nigeria but I thank God we made it to India at last. Our experience has taught u s a lesson: we won’t let anybody that we know spend to get a referral letter. I have come to the realisation that Nigerians need a lot of education. My wife couldn’t get a donor amongst her siblings because they were all too scared.

“We eventually found a donor for N1.2 million but that is the least because when we got to India, we found several patients and their donors who charged them between N1.7 million – N2.5 million. Most of these donors are the very poor who cannot get help any other way.

So, they decided to trade their kidneys for the money to start a business or solve life’s problems.

“I can tell you from experience that if you see 20 people at the Indian Embassy, searching for visa, more than half of them are kidney or cancer patients and their donors who have come to obtain visa to travel for treatment.

“Donors operate as a cartel and they charge whatever they like. My wife is still in India with the donor she took along and all kinds of tests are still being conducted to ensure there won’t be any complications.

“We did not solicit for funds publicly because we could afford the treatment and the transplant but not every patient could afford it. In fact, most Nigerians cannot afford dialysis or transplant.

And in the Indian hospital, there are so many Nigerians and other Africans awaiting transplant. My wife went with her donor since last year and getting the transplant done is taking time because of the series of tests being conducted. It’s possible she would be there till the later part of the year and that translates to more money.”

Asked how helpful Nigerian Embassy has been to the patients, Goddy said “the Embassy renders help only in terms of confirming documents but woe betide you if you cannot meet up your bills. As a matter of fact, the Nigerian Embassy writes the hospitals from time to time to remind them not to involve the Embassy in any form of financial support or assistance to the patients. What the hospitals do is write to the Embassy sending copies of the documents the patients bring for them to confirm the patients are Nigerians and that is all they do.

The Embassy does not render financial help to Nigerians who come to India for treatment. They only confirm the documents they brought to India and even that is a big deal.

“There was even a case of this Nigerian girl whose donor failed one of the tests. She remained in the hospital for 18 months until an Indian offered his own kidney to her free! Getting a donor is not easy and that is why when you find one, he charges as much as N2.5 million but we didn’t pay that much because it was a man who had done business with a donor that introduced us to the ‘donors association’.