Law against organ trafficking approved
by Nirmala Carvalho
Anyone involved in illegal organ transplant or trafficking could get from five to ten years in prison and a fine of two to ten million rupees. Donations between unrelated people are now allowed. For Dr Pascoal Carvalho, of the Pontifical Academy for Life, India needed “more stringent organ transplant laws” to save the sick and the poor from “unscrupulous agents”.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – India’s upper house, the Rajya Sabha (or Council of States), passed the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) bill that amends the existing law. The purpose is to stem illegal organ trafficking and help would-be donor recipients. Dr Pascoal Carvalho, of the Pontifical Academy for Life, is happy. In his view, India needed “more stringent organ transplant laws”. India’s lower house, the Lok Sabha (or House of the People) had passed the law on Friday.
The new legislation increases the penalties on anyone involved in illegal human organ or tissue trafficking. Sentences now range from five to ten years and fines from two million to ten million rupees (US$ 45,000 to 220,000). The amended law also regulates donations of organs and human tissue between unrelated people. In addition, organs or tissue cannot be removed from mentally challenged, retarded and ill persons before their death.
“Recently,” Dr Carvalho said, “India has witnessed a steady ‘tourist’ traffic of organ-seekers from West Asia and even Europe.” For this reason, “There is an urgent need to stop illegal organ transplants in the country. A large proportion of transplant patients are from the upper and middle classes, and there is no shortage of money to keep a nexus of agents and health professionals raking it in. Profits are stupendous because most donors are driven to the act by poverty. Regrettably, the illiterate poor are often the victims of unscrupulous agents.”
In India, illegal organ trafficking involves primarily liver, kidneys, pancreas and corneas. According to the World Health Organisation, this traffic touches 65,000 children each year. A liver donor in India can get up to 75,000 rupees (US$ 1,650), and recipients can pay up to 400,000 rupees (US$ 8,500).
“As in the rest of the world, the demand for live human organs clearly outstrips supply by a conservative factor of two to one. There are about 4,000 kidney transplants in India every year, and 8,000 join the waiting list annually,” Dr Carvalho explained. For this reason, according to the doctor, who is also a member of the Diocesan Human Life Committee, a new law was important.
Indeed, in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, John Paul II had said, “One way of nurturing a genuine culture of life is the donation of organs, performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a view to offering a chance of health and even life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope.”
Once the law is promulgated, organ banks will have to be registered after authorisation from the appropriate authority. The latter will determine whether the bank has the right services, structures and specialised means to do the job. If a bank does not meet the required standards, it will not be able to recover, monitor and analyse any human tissue or organ, or carry out implant.
The new legislation increases the penalties on anyone involved in illegal human organ or tissue trafficking. Sentences now range from five to ten years and fines from two million to ten million rupees (US$ 45,000 to 220,000). The amended law also regulates donations of organs and human tissue between unrelated people. In addition, organs or tissue cannot be removed from mentally challenged, retarded and ill persons before their death.
“Recently,” Dr Carvalho said, “India has witnessed a steady ‘tourist’ traffic of organ-seekers from West Asia and even Europe.” For this reason, “There is an urgent need to stop illegal organ transplants in the country. A large proportion of transplant patients are from the upper and middle classes, and there is no shortage of money to keep a nexus of agents and health professionals raking it in. Profits are stupendous because most donors are driven to the act by poverty. Regrettably, the illiterate poor are often the victims of unscrupulous agents.”
In India, illegal organ trafficking involves primarily liver, kidneys, pancreas and corneas. According to the World Health Organisation, this traffic touches 65,000 children each year. A liver donor in India can get up to 75,000 rupees (US$ 1,650), and recipients can pay up to 400,000 rupees (US$ 8,500).
“As in the rest of the world, the demand for live human organs clearly outstrips supply by a conservative factor of two to one. There are about 4,000 kidney transplants in India every year, and 8,000 join the waiting list annually,” Dr Carvalho explained. For this reason, according to the doctor, who is also a member of the Diocesan Human Life Committee, a new law was important.
Indeed, in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, John Paul II had said, “One way of nurturing a genuine culture of life is the donation of organs, performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a view to offering a chance of health and even life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope.”
Once the law is promulgated, organ banks will have to be registered after authorisation from the appropriate authority. The latter will determine whether the bank has the right services, structures and specialised means to do the job. If a bank does not meet the required standards, it will not be able to recover, monitor and analyse any human tissue or organ, or carry out implant.
.png)
See also
