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THE
Philippine Society of Nephrology (PSN) on Monday
criticized the kidney board’s decision to allow an
Israeli patient to undergo a kidney transplant despite a
total ban on such procedure for foreigners starting last
month.
Dr.
Benita Padilla, PNS president, said the Philippine Board
of Organ Donation and Transplantation (PBODT)
“contradicted” itself when it approved the kidney
transplant of eight foreign patients despite a total ban
based on an order by President Arroyo.
The
board, headed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III,
exempted the eight foreign patients from the ban for
“humanitarian reasons,” since they have been in the
country before the ban.
On May
17 an Israeli patient underwent a kidney transplant at
the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) in
Quezon City.
“While a
humanitarian concern for the recipients is commendable,
this must be matched with a humanitarian concern for the
donors also. Did the PBODT make any recommendation also
as to how the welfare of the donors will be protected
and how it will be ensured that they are not victims of
trafficking?” Padilla asked Duque in a letter Monday.
Padilla
said the exemption given to some foreign patients would
give a wrong impression that the Philippine government
is not serious about implementing its own law.
Duque
approved an administrative order in March that sets the
guidelines for all organ transplantation done in the
country. In April, he ordered a total ban on kidney
transplantation for foreign patients who, records
showed, are being given priority over Filipinos.
Last
year there were 1,046 kidney transplants in the country,
of which 528 are foreign recipients, according to the
Philippine Renal Registry.
The rise
in foreign patients also coincided with an increase in
the number of nonrelated donors (844), said the same
study.
Padilla
asked how many other foreign patients will be granted
exemptions by the kidney board, since it is not clear
how many are “lining up” for transplant.
“First,
do we know how the presence of these Israeli patients in
the Philippines came about? It seems like a very good
opportunity to identify individuals or groups which may
be systematically bringing potential recipients to our
country,” she said.
Duque
had said earlier that majority of foreign recipients of
Filipino kidney are Arabs and Asians.
The
World Health Assembly, where the Philippines is a
member, discourages organ-transplant tourism and instead
supports cadaver donation to stop illegal human-organ
trafficking.
Between
10,000 to 12,500 Filipinos develop end-stage renal
disease annually and about 50 percent to 60 percent of
them are kidney transplant candidates.
However,
less than 10 percent are given transplants because of
insufficient supply and the failure of patients to raise
money for the procedure. |
