video transcript

A 17-year-old Chinese high school student has sold one his kidneys. The reason? So he could buy an iPad and an iPhone. The boy, identified only as Xiao Zheng, met a broker on the internet who said he could help him sell his kidney for three thousand U.S. dollars. So in late April, Zheng travelled to Chenzhou in central Hunan province where he had his right kidney removed in a hospital, and was paid 3,400 dollars. His mother told reporters she's devastated by the news. (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) XIAO ZHENG'S MOTHER, SAYING: "When my son came home he had a laptop computer and an Apple phone. Where did all that money come from? Only when he could bare it no longer did he tell us. He said, Mum, I sold my kidney. When I heard it I felt like the sky was crashing down on our family." A broker who organises the sale of kidneys in Beijing told reporters by telephone that Zheng didn't get a great deal. The price is 5,400 dollars - he says - plus the bonus. The bonus is between 300 and 1500 dollars. Zheng's mother alerted police after she found out, but they were unable to locate the broker. The hospital was not authorised to perform organ transplants, and claimed they had no idea about the surgery. Travis Brecher, Reuters