DSWD secretary tells organ donors money not worth it

10/27/2008

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Esperanza Cabral yesterday warned potential organ donors that the P100,000 to P150,000 they can get from the illegal rackets is not worth it in the long run.

Cabral said studies show the money that many poor Filipinos get for their organs runs out in as little as two months, leaving them as poor as before but less healthy.

“You won’t get rich by donating your organs. Studies show that in the Philippines, most donors waste their money by spending it on blowouts with friends or on appliances like karaoke machines,” she said in a radio interview.

In some cases, however, she noted donors gave away their organs to pay the medical bills of a sick child.

But she said that regardless of the reason, the money will eventually run out, leaving the donor feeling sick and unable to return to work.

“Their lives never improved. Most of them could not return to work because they felt weak after the operation. It turned out they never had themselves checked after the transplant,” she said.

“We are not blaming those who sold their organs. We consider them victims of unscrupulous fellow Filipinos who use them to earn millions,” she added.

The DSWD earlier had warned persons that profit from the underground trade of buying and selling human organs that they may net 20 years in jail and fine of up to P5 million.

This was after Cabral received reports that some poor Filipinos sell their kidneys for P100,000 for quick money.

She said buying, selling and removal of an organ for commercial purposes is a criminal act under Article 3 of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children. The Philippines is a state party to this protocol.

On the other hand, Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 includes in the definition of “trafficking in persons” the removal and sale of organs.

Cabral said more than 500 kidney transplants involving foreign patients mostly from Israel and the Middle East were conducted last year in the Philippines.

The Department of Health (DoH) has banned foreign transplants in the country.

It also prohibits local internal organ transplants from living donors who are not their relatives.

The DoH said all hospitals, transplants facilities and medical practitioners found to violate the directive are criminally liable under Section 4 of Republic Act 9208, or the Anti-Trafficking Persons Act.

Section 10 of RA 9208 states penalties of imprisonment of 20 years and fines ranging from not less than P1 million to more than P2 million on doctors, brokers, middlemen and foreigners engaged in the illegal activity.

Foreigners who are also found engaged in the act will also be meted with the same penalties and fines plus deportation after serving the sentence. PNA

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