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Illegal Organ Trade

Patients suffer for govt’s slow response

Doctors tell discussion

Staff Correspondent
The government's slow response in checking illegal organ trade is hampering organ transplants in the country and increasing the suffering of patients, observed doctors at a discussionyesterday.
Currently the country hosts only kidney transplantation with 120 transplants being carried out yearly against a demand for 20,000, they said.
The discussion, “Organ Transplantation in Bangladesh: Problems and Possibilities”, was organised by the daily Prothom Alo at its city office.
“The government should not delay its decision over kidney transplantation which is the only way a patient with a damaged kidney can get a new lease of life,” said Dr Harun-Ur Rashid, president of Society of Organ Transplantation.
Public and private hospitals stopped organ transplants in September last year in the wake of media reports that a syndicate was luring poor people from
Joypurhat into selling their organs — kidneys and livers.
According to the country's laws, organs can only be transplanted if it is donated by a close kin or spouse or cadaveric donors. One cannot under any circumstances receive money in exchange for organs.
In August, transplantation resumed at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and later at National Institute of Kidney Disease and Urology.
But the government is yet to give any final decision over the recommendations its six-member-committee gave in November, causing the impasse in transplantation.
Speakers yesterday urged the government to finalise the draft regulations formed from the recommendations.
The draft regulations say that a national body must certify the relationship between the donor and the recipient prior to a transplant in a private hospital. Public hospitals, however, can conduct transplants on their own certification.
The speakers also proposed to allow organ donation among emotional relations, for example, among friends and promote cadaveric donors.
“I request the government to take necessary initiatives so that transplantation, at least among first-degree relations (between parents and children), can take place in public and private hospitals without any hindrance," said Harun, a committee member.
Prof Abul Mansur, director of transplant unit, Diabetic Association of Bangladesh, said, “We urge the government to finalise the recommendations in the next two weeks.”
Prof Dr Mohammad Ali, Prof Dr Muhammad Rafiqul Alam, Prof Dr Mirza Foysal, LabAid Managing Director Dr AM Shamim, Prof Dr MA Salam, Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council President Prof Dr Abu Sufi Ahmed Amin, Prof Dr AK Azad Khan and Dr Kamrul Hasan Khan spoke at the discussion.
Prothom Alo Joint Editor Abdul Quayum moderated the programme.