Indonesian Domestic Worker Claims Her Kidney Was ‘Stolen’ While in Qatar

Twenty-five-year- old Indonesian woman Sri Rabitah told The Telegraph early last week that she discovered her kidney was stolen without her knowledge while she lived in Qatar, employed as a domestic worker three years ago.

When she went back to her home island of Lombok earlier this year, Rabitah went to the hospital to get a medical checkup after complaining of recurring back pain. She was surprised to hear the doctors say one of her kidneys was actually missing. Like millions of other Indonesian women, Rabitah applied for work abroad as a domestic worker. Although she applied to work for a family in

Abu Dhabi, she ended up working for a Palestinian family in Doha.

She was surprised when her employers asked her to get a medical checkup. She was even more surprised when she was told she was going to be placed under anaesthesia and would be receiving an injection because she was feeling weak.

The Indonesian told Detik that she woke up in pain and discovered an incision scar, an explanation for which was never disclosed or explained to her.

Foreign ministry officer Muhammad Iqbal said Rabitah’s case needed urgent investigation as it was clearly an indication of organ trafficking. The minister emphasized the widespread abuse of Indonesia’s 4.5 million migrant workers, the majority of whom are women working as in-house maids in other countries. Rabitah said she wants the Indonesian government to sue her perpetrator.

Despite the government’s announcement in May of 2015 related to permanently banning women from working as maids in the Middle East, many women still insist on leaving the archipelago and finding work abroad.