Pakistan is amongst those countries where one can get away without being penalised on the charge of illegal human organ transplantation. Several culprits involved in said business have been arrested but they were able to walk away free because of the loopholes in the system.
The most glaring example in this regard is registration of a recent case in which eleven people including Dr Imran (senior anaesthesia doctor), Dr Sana Ullah (surgeon at General Hospital) and Abdullah Halame Nurdual, a national of Somalia were nominated.
The case was registered on July, 2011 in North Cantonment police station under Section 334/511/342/109PPC and Section 11 of Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissues Act (THOTA).
Among the two key accused, Dr Imran allegedly is brother of a lawyer who has managed the case in favour of his brother and other accused Dr Sana Ullah, resulting in constant extension in their post-arrest interim bails. Dr Sana Ullah and Dr Imran were awarded post-arrest interim bails on July 22 and 26 respectively against the surety bounds of Rs 50,000 each.
Since then, the bail matter has become rolling stone in the courts of Husnain Qadir Ghillon (ADSJ), M Sheraz Kiani (ADSJ), Sana Khan Attique (ADSJ) with duty judges Arif Hameed Sheikh and Rana Zahid Iqbal. Husnain Qadir Ghillon (ADSJ) for the time fixed the matter in his court but it was heard only once since the judge has been on leave since then. Sheraz Kiani granted five adjournments without hearing the matter, giving enough time to defence council for preparation of case.
On October 7 the interim bail matter could not be heard in the court of Kiani as counsels from the both side sought more time to prepare the case, while ADSJ Sana Khan Attique also granted adjournment for three times on the same grounds. The defence councils have been seeking adjournment in a row on the pretext of non-preparation of the matter and their engagement in other court. The steady adjournments in the matter of accused post arrest interim bail are a clear negation of National Judicial Policy and all systems of justice.
According to National Judicial Policy it is binding to decide this kind of matters within three days in the court of judicial magistrate, five day in session court and seven days in high court. Illegal transplant of human organs, especially kidneys, is not only the concern of Pakistan and is a worldwide problem, even though these organs save millions of lives every year.
Pakistan is one of the favourite resort worldwide in “transplant tourism” and according to an estimates, Pakistan hosts up to 1,500 transplant tourists every year, second only to China. Clinics in Pakistan have been reported to charge on average of $40,000 from organ recipients whereas a donor gets only $1500 to 2000. Pakistanis who donate kidneys do so because they have few other options to make money and extricate themselves from “bonded labour”, a system under which they are tied to property owned by landlords.
Earlier, India that had a successful legal market in organ trading was one of the largest kidney transplant centres in the world due to the easy availability of organs at lower cost. Poverty and loopholes in legislation is main contributor to the illegal trade of organs in this region.
Every year thousands of people from Europe, Middle East, United States, and Australia come to India, Pakistan, China, Egypt, Philippines and other countries approach poor countries in search of organs.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) up to 10 percent of the 63,000 kidney transplants that occur annually throughout the world involve donors from developing countries who are unrelated to the recipients. A dark aspect of this commercial organ trade is that the donor usually receives only a small fraction of the amount which the recipient pays.
Without taking strict measurement and overcoming the loopholes lying in the system, there is no way this business can be controlled in Pakistan.
Putting a price tag on human life
