A 17-year-old Chinese boy has sold one of his kidneys for just 2,000 pounds to pay for Apple’s tablet computer iPad 2.
The boy, identified as Zheng from Guangdong Province, said that he had sold the kidney after spotting an online advertisement offering cash to anyone prepared to become an organ donor.
“I wanted to buy an iPad 2, but I didn’t have the money. When I surfed the internet I found an advert posted online by agent saying they were able to pay 20,000 renminbi (1,880 pounds) to buy a kidney,” The Telegraph quoted Zheng, as saying.
After negotiations, the boy travelled to Hunan Province, where the kidney was removed at a local hospital which discharged him after three days. He was paid 22,000 renminbi (2,070 pounds) for the organ.
Zheng, who has suffered complications following the surgery, returned home, but was unable to keep what he had done from his mother.
“When he came back, he had a laptop and a new Apple handset. I wanted to know how he had got so much money and he finally confessed that he had sold one of his kidneys,” his mother said.