Illegal organ trafficking thrives in the province

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The police, despite claiming to have eliminated organ transplant from the province, were unaware of various incidents of organ trafficking that has been taking place in the province for the last seven years. In the stated time, transplant surgeries were carried out on over 214 patients, 15 of whom expired during the procedure.

49 FIRs have been registered against organ traffickers, for kidnapping individuals and forcefully removing their kidneys before selling them in the black markets, in police stations across Lahore and in other parts of Punjab. Unfortunately, no important personality named in these FIRs has been arrested.

In cities including Lahore, Faisalabad, Bhalwal, Sialkot, Mandi Bahaowdin, Sargodha, Jhang, Sahewal, Multan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Kasur and Rawalpindi, many cases of organ trafficking have surfaced in recent times. The police maintaining its tradition, filed cases against the management and doctors of the Doctors’ Hospital, but the defendants repeatedly got buried from the court, with the courts calling the case either too weak, or without any witnesses to prove the plaintiffs true.

In the northern Cantt area of Lahore, the police raided a private clinic and arrested Dr Arshad Javed and Dr Suliman along with their assistants Babar, Hamayun, Pervez etc and rescued the victims whose organs were being transplanted and noted their accounts. These victims stated that they were offered Rs 40000 for each kidney and that due to their poor financial status they were lured into sell their organs for Rs 70000 each. The names of the victims are, Shukat Masih, Tara Masih and Javed.

The accused told the police that they sold the kidneys to bigger and more prominent hospitals in DHA, Gulberg, Valencia Town, Shadman, Garden Town, Ferozpur Road and Johar Town. Doctors, in these hospitals, in-turn, sell these kidneys for a higher price to foreigners, who receive these kidneys donated by the poor people.

The greatest misfortune in this gruesome episode is the blind eye that law keeps towards these criminals, especially if they are important personalities. For instance, police arrested doctors who were indulged in organ trafficking in a hospital in Ravi block, Iqbal Town, but on the request of a powerful personality these doctors were allowed to stroll free.

It was only after a member of the royal family of a Gulf state died, due to the negligence of dictors, in the Valencia Town area of Lahore, during kidney transplant did the government finally decide to take action against the organ trafficking mafia.

According to sources in the FIA, many people die during organ transplant. The name of those who died during the process are Iqbal bibi, Javed from Shahdara, Ahsan and Shakeel from Ferozpur road and Jabar from northern cantt.

FIA Deputy Director and Spokesperson Hamad said that the FIA is now on its toes and will not let any criminal off the hook in this regard. He added that the doctors who were arrested are being interrogated.