Daily Times

LAHORE: Despite laws banning the sale of organs, illegal trade of human organs, on back of increased demand for kidneys, was on the rise in Pakistan.

Rising ratio of patients with diabetes, high blood pressure and heart problems was increasing the demand for human organs to far outstrip supply. Abject poverty and unemployment was the main force behind the sale of human organs to the affluent patients at cheaper rates, while on the other hand the government seemed least interested in eradicating the menace from the society.

It is pertinent to mention that under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 2010, buying and selling of human organs for transplants was prohibited in Pakistan, and donations from living donors were strictly restricted to blood relatives.

In case of a donation to a non-relative, the law called for strict evaluation of the case to determine if it was being done purely for altruistic reasons and no coercion or monetary benefits were involved.

According to the World Health Organisation, illegal trade of kidneys has risen to such an extent that an estimated 10,000 black market operations, involving purchased human organs, were taking place annually.

An official of the Home Department told Daily Times that a special secret report compiled by special branch has pointed out that many people of Punjab were selling their organs to earn some quick cash.

He said according to report, the field staff of Sargodha division carried out a survey of the healthcare establishment to identify the hospitals and persons involved in illegal business.

“During the survey, it was revealed that as many as 61 kidney donors belonging to Muslim Sheikh community were identified in Kot Momin, Sargodha, during the last five years,” he added.

Backed by unscrupulous personnel linked to the medical profession, including touts and doctors involved in illegal trade, highlighted the nightmarish side of healthcare system in Punjab, he deplored, adding that an alarming surge in renal diseases, diabetes and high blood pressure was driving the global demand for kidneys, which greatly exceeded supply.

He said as the provincial government failed to eradicate black market trade in human organs, Punjab retained a reputation of being an easy place to buy and sell kidneys.

He said Punjab was a populated province with 70 percent of people still living in villages, adding that not everyone was educated enough to understand the mechanism of organ donation.

“Kidney transplant has become a lucrative underground business, which involves poor donors who willingly donate their kidneys for some quick cash to either pay off debts or support their family, agents who exploit the impoverished into selling their organs, rich foreign recipients who travel to Pakistan for a transplant, surgeons who cut through the ethics of the medical profession and retrieve kidneys, and the powers that facilitate and protect this illegal business,” he mentioned.

He lamented that despite the grave threat of illegal human organ transplantation in the province, the Punjab government has failed to empower the Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (PHOTA) as a vibrant monitoring body to curb the prevailing menace.

The official said that due to the lethargic attitude of the government, neither the budget nor any manpower was provided to the authority ever since its inception.