Call for ban on kidney transplants for foreigners

from The Age

A Philippine official called today for a permanent ban on kidney transplants for foreigners, saying a new government regulation would not stop a thriving black market in organ trade.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque signed an order last week to create a government regulatory board to oversee kidney donations and transplants while making such highly secretive deals more transparent and ethical.

Duque's order, which took more than two years to craft, prioritises Filipino patients over foreigners in the allocation of locally available kidneys for transplants and directs authorities to set limits.

He has temporarily banned kidney transplants involving foreigners until such limits are set.

Kidney trading, involving the poor and prisoners who sell their organs for paltry sums to syndicates catering mostly to foreign clients, has been reported by the local media and reflects the depth of the South-east Asian nation's poverty.

Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral urged that the new order be amended to include a permanent ban on kidney transplants for foreigners, saying it would help authorities stop the black market.

"Without such a total ban, our poor Filipino countrymen would continue to be exploited not only by foreigners but also by a network of hospitals and doctors benefiting from such trade, which is really trafficking," Cabral told The Associated Press.

Poor Filipinos who give up their kidneys out of desperation always end up being shortchanged, she said.

Two weeks ago, Cabral said her department, along with the Philippine Society of Nepthrologists, interviewed 109 villagers who sold their kidneys mostly to Israelis and other Middle Eastern nationals a year ago.

Many of the donors from three townships in Quezon province, south-east of Manila, have developed ailments such as urinary tract infections and high blood pressure linked to the transplants because of a lack of post-operation care, Cabral said.

"Almost 80 per cent of the villagers were just as poor as they were before they gave up their kidneys," she said, adding they sold their organs for 150,000 pesos ($A4,010) each through local brokers.

At least 500 such kidney transplants involving foreign patients were conducted last year in the Philippines, which is considered the fifth-largest source of kidneys in the world for foreign patients, she said.