SARGODA , Pakistan ( CNN ) -- Mohammed Iqbal said he has been told by his landlord to pay up on debts and is left with a choice facing others in this impoverished corner of Pakistan : Sell your children or a kidney . This man 's landlord forced him to pay off money he borrowed for his children 's medical bills . For the 50-year-old Iqbal , there is only one option . Despite a law passed in late 2007 banning transplants for money , he has decided to sell his kidney and has already been for pre-operation tests . The sale will net him between $ 1,100 and $ 1,600 . `` What 's incredible here is the law that bans the operation he 's going to go through came into place in 2007 , '' said CNN 's Nic Robertson . `` He 's still able to go to a doctor , the doctors given him advice , that 's what he has to do under law ... He 's going to make money out of it 100,000-150,000 rupees , and that is absolutely illegal . Yet , in just a few days , he 's expecting to sell his kidney . '' Iqbal was not alone in facing this difficult decision . Others in Pakistan 's rural heartland have opted to sell their kidneys . One of them was Rab Nawas , who was deep in debt about a year ago to his landlord after borrowing money to pay for his wedding and to cover medical bills for his wife and six children . He , too , faced the choice : sell his children , his wife or a kidney . See photos of Pakistan 's impoverished kidney donors » . `` I am helpless . Should I sell my children ? Should I go sell my children ? So , it 's better I sell my kidney . I had to return the money , '' said Nawas , who now bears a foot-long scar that wraps around from his back to his belly and is too weak to work the same hours he could before . Watch Nawas show his operation scar » . People bearing the tell-tale scar of an organ removal in the villages around the farm where Nawas works are not hard to find . At one point , there were about 2,000 transplants a year -- with 1,500 of them going to what the government said were so-called `` transplant tourists . '' The 2007 law was aimed at ending Pakistan 's dubious status as one of the world 's leading organ bazaars . Nawas sold his kidney after the law was passed and said the procedure was performed at the Rawalpindi Kidney Center in the northern city of Rawalpindi . When he went to the Rawalpindi center , after CNN asked him to show where the procedure was done , he said a doctor told him they did not have a record of his operation because they destroy such records when a patient leaves . The Rawalpindi clinic -- which prior to the law was a leading user of purchased kidneys -- told CNN that it abides by the law and does not get involved in deals between kidney donors and recipients . `` Standing there it 's hard for me to fully understand the courage it took for him to make the journey . In this country , he has few rights , and even less security , '' said CNN 's Robertson .
A law passed in late 2008 banned selling organs for money . Still , many poor Pakistanis have no choice but to sell their kidneys . At one time , there were about 2,000 in a years . Law aims to boost Pakistan 's status as one of the world 's leading organ bazaars .