Chinese student reportedly sells his kidney to buy an iPad 2

We encounter some pretty bizarre stories here at The Next Web, but sometimes one comes along that just makes us say…WTF?

The Global Times has reported that a 17-year old student in the Anhui province in eastern China had one of his kidneys surgically removed so he could afford to buy an iPad 2.

The high school freshman – called ‘Zheng’ – contacted a kidney-selling agent on the Internet, who offered to pay him 20,000 yuan (about $3k (USD)/£2k (GBP) ) for one of his kidneys. The operation was carried out in Chenzhou on 28th of April. The report states that he returned home with a laptop and an iPhone, so it’s not clear whether this is a typo, or he had a change of heart as to the gadgets he wanted. And it’s a reasonable guess that he had a little money left over after his purchases.

Zheng’s mother, suspicious of how he had acquired his new gadgets, reported the matter to local police who have thus far been unable to contact the agents in question. The hospital where the operation took place apparently isn’t qualified to carry out organ transplants, and it has denied any connection with the kidney removal operation. It also added that its urology department is contracted to a businessman in Fujian.

Shanghai Daily quote the boy as saying: “I wanted to buy an iPad 2 but could not afford it. A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan.”