'50,000 lives to be saved after organ transplant bill approval'

Life of more than fifty thousands people could be saved after the approval of the transplantation of human organ and tissue ordinance 2007, said Professor Adeebul Hassan Rizvi, Director, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT).
This ordinance will finish the transplant tourism in Pakistan, which was damaging the image of the country world-wide. President of Transplantation Society of Pakistan said this while addressing to media men in a meeting held in Agha Hassan Abdi auditorium of Dewan Farooq medical complex of SIUT.
Dr Rizvi said that with the implementation of the law over fifteen thousand people could save their organs and trade of organ will come into end. "This ordinance will finish the trade of human organs from Pakistan and patients of other organ related diseases could also get benefits", he said.
Dr Rizvi said that now human organs would be extracted from dead bodies of the persons who announce to donate their organs in their lifetime.
He announced that the government should set up a fund through which expenditure of transplantation may be made affordable for the patients. Briefing about the existing situation of "Human Organ and Tissue Transplant ordinance 2007", Professor Rizvi said that SIUT had been struggling for this law since 1992.
For over 15 years the bill was lying before various committees of senate and parliament until 2006 when Supreme court of Pakistan took a suo moto action and ordered the government to pass the law and ban organ trade.
He said Pakistan is known as Organ Bazar world-wide and this has given a bad name to the country. Pakistan has become the center from where people from more than 20 countries including Middle East, Europe, North America and South Asia come and easily get kidneys for 15 to 20 thousands dollars.
According to the figures released by SIUT, in our country more than 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line with a large majority being bonded labourers and farmers. They work in inhuman and deplorable conditions and are burdened by heavy debts of the landlords, which transfers generation to generation.
These people sell their kidneys as they are attracted by the handsome sum of money offered initially. But after losing their kidneys their economic condition does not change as they still remain under the burden of the heavy debt.
They are paid a very small amount of around Rs 70,000 and the beneficiary is the middleman, the doctors and the hospitals, SIUT details said. Middlemen earn billions through exploiting the poor desperate villagers while foreigner patients are trapped through attractive websites and terms offered.