Healthy kidneys are a product of great value on the black market. The increasing demand for kidneys and the lack of donors in developed countries have turned to developing countries such as India, China, Philippines and Pakistan, in mines for traders and unscrupulous doctors. Until recently it seemed that the Philippine government would address this problem effectively by issuing appropriate laws.
After strong international pressure, the government has adopted a more ethical, apparently. However, observers are skeptical that the government is able to fulfill their generous pledges.
What happened? On March 3 the Department of Public Health released an administrative order under the title: "The new standards for the transplantation of kidneys from living donors to non-family and agencies for implementation." The proposed regulations seem ethical, but the next shade were put in doubt: it would allow donors to specify who will receive your body or make a donation "non-directed". What is this?
This is a hole in the law big enough to drive a giant camel, because it allows poor donors sold their kidneys to foreigners not of his family.
The former Minister of Health Alberto Romualdez, described the situation as a "ticking bomb ethics." Francis L. Delmonico, Harvard, member of The Transplantation Society , the leading professional body for transplant surgeons, told MercatorNet that the new legislation "will allow countries to foreign patients rich, poor Filipinos use as a source of organs. " The country's Catholic bishops denounced it: "the sale or trade of human organs, by its very nature is morally unacceptable. Is contrary to the dignity of the human person, his authentic autonomy and the essential equality of all people ... The human body can not be treated as a simple substance or article of commerce. "
This statement forced public health authorities to review the project. Last month, "closed the hole" and banned all kidney donations to foreigners not of his family. The Recent reports indicate that legislators are even contemplating the possibility of including not receiving his family under the ban.
success Will this ban?
Could the devilish business of selling kidneys to evaporate at a stroke? The kidney trafficking has taken deep root in the Philippines. Between 1996 and 2006, according to the Philippine Society of Nephrology (PNS), the number of transplants kidney in the Philippines has increased sixfold. The number of living donor transplants to people of the same family has stayed the same, while the number of transplants from donors to non-family increased from 52 in 1999 to 473 in 2006. The number of foreign recipients in 2004 and 2005 grew by an incredible 62%.
What kind of person can give a kidney to low cost?: The poor, and in the Philippines abound. Only in the town of Basesco in Manila Bay, about 3,000 of the 50,000 inhabitants admit to having sold a kidney.
According the Philippine Society of Nephrology , these donors are all male, mean age 29 years. One third of them have no secondary education. Most are people from the countryside or rickshaw drivers, with an average monthly household income of $ 90. Received an average of $ 2,800, they used to pay off debts, help his family or starting a business. In most cases they are not happy with the result. About three-quarters of them confessed to investigators that did not improve their lives economically. 80% of them were less able to work. Virtually none recommend it to others to sell his kidney.
The limits imposed by the government earlier had managed to restrict the number of transplants to foreigners, many from the Middle East, 10% of the total. Now, the sale or export of human organs carries a criminal penalty of imprisonment of 20 years and higher fines than before, but convictions for this crime is almost nonexistent. The sale of organs remains a highly lucrative business for ambitious surgeons.
Los críticos son escépticos
Esta es la razón que hace temer al Dr. Amihan Abueva, del Grupo asiático contra los traficantes de niños , que las nuevas disposiciones van a ser ignoradas o que los traficantes de riñones encontrarán nuevos resquicios legales para su negocio. El Dr. Gene Nisperos, de Health Alliance Democracy , observa que ya existían antes muchas órdenes administrativas que nunca se cumplieron. También ha declarado a MercatorNet que la privatización de los cuidados de la salud por parte del gobierno hace que él dude de la seriedad de esta nueva medida policy.
The Philippine government itself remains skeptical. A report filipino Program for organ donation said last year that the health department could not "enforce the rules, due to their lack of capacity and ability to supervise accredited clinics ... This program has no ability to make adequately meet the ethical guidelines for accredited teams ... There is clear documentation on compliance with the rules and have not been implemented because of inadequate structures in place, their lack of resources and lack of coordination efforts. "
liberal ideologues
One reason to suspect that government officials are facing serious about selling kidneys is that "economists" are seem very well the new regulations. The Economist, for example, is a supporter of legalizing organ market: "Many people find repugnant the idea of \u200b\u200bindividuals selling their organs. However, there is a market in organs and the organs of the deceased. Many companies make millions. It seems deplorable, therefore exclude individuals living in these gains. And keep in mind that a kidney removed is as safe as the most common surgeries or treatments (no more dangerous than liposuction, for example). So the kidneys should not be considered distinct from the rest of the organs from a living donor. "
Ideally, it should have appropriate medical examinations to determine donor suitability. But in the slums of Manila, the broker is not interested in ensuring the health of the donor and the donor is not interested in saying la verdad. Es fácil falsificar muestras de orina o normalizar la presión arterial con drogas. Newsbreak , una revista filipina, publicó recientemente el caso del filipino Doming Umandap, de 50 años, residente de la provincia de Quezón, que murió de un ataque del corazón unos meses después de donar un riñón.
En Filipinas, y en otros países pobres, los padres y madres de familia sin recursos están vendiendo sus órganos porque no tienen otra cosa que vender. Los filipinos necesitan a otro John Steinbeck, con una nueva versión de Las Uvas de la Ira , para llamar la to the public on the horror of the current organ trafficking.
Only strong political will can enforce the law and to prevent the recurrence of cases like Umandap Doming. But unfortunately very few Filipinos believe that the new regulatory system will change the least this situation.
[The sale of human organs is prohibited and punished in almost all legislation in the world. However, unfortunately, there is a black market of gigantic proportions. Something very serious is wrong with society when thousands of people from many different countries are in need of selling an organ of your body to live or to raise her family. 
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