Business of human organs is at brisk in southern Punjab. The poor people lose their kidneys at the hands of an organised mafia, which hire them for lucrative job.
A senior lawyer Shaikh Faheem Ahmed said here on Sunday that in the absence of a law against the business of human organs was encouraging people involved in this business to exploit poor people by forcing them to sell their organs for money.
Health Minister Mohammad Iqbal told Business Recorder on phone that the provincial Health Department had gathered information regarding the sale of human organs in the province, but could not take action against the people involved due to lack of a law in this regard. Sources in various government and private hospitals told Business Recorder that the people, especially doctors, involved in kidney trade had gone underground after the police raids on Friday and Saturday.
Health Department officials said that the raids conducted regarding the apprehension of the people involved in the business of human organs was part of an operation that the department and law enforcement agencies had been planning for a long time.
Many civil society groups had recently pressured the government a lot to stop the sale of organs in the name of medical tourism. The Network recently published a research report claiming that the organs' business was likely to be a $4 billion industry by 2012. It said that the business would be conducted under the title, medical tourism.