Kabul: A mother of two in Afghanistan sold her five-month-old daughter to raise money for medical treatment for a relative. The case sparked public outcry and officials as well as others raised money for both the treatment and to get back the child.
The mom, Obaidah, lives in Mimanah, in Afghanistan’s Faryab province and has been married for five years. Her husband’s 20-year-old brother Jalaluddin is suffering from blood cancer. To help pay for the treatment, baby “Mehraban” was sold to a childless couple, the Voice of America reported.
“I sold my daughter to treat my husband’s young brother. I cried two nights and I did not sleep. I had to do that to save a person’s life from death,” Obaidah told the VOA.
The story, first reported by the Pajhwok news agency, circulated widely on social media, attracting the attention of a local governor.
A Pajhwok reporter says the Governor of Faryab paid $420 to get the baby back and returned to her mother.
Najibullah, a man who runs a restaurant in city of Maimana, bought the baby girl because he and his wife have not been able to have children.
Five other people donated money for Jalaluddin’s treatment.
Mehraban’s sale is the latest of several cases in which poverty, debt or social difficulties prompted parents to sell babies.
—PTI