AT long last the country has a bill passed by the National Assembly to regulate human organs transplantation which would become a law after the Senate has passed it. This raises hopes that the highly callous trade of human organs, going on for years, would now come to an end. The issue of unscrupulous people engaged in making money out of human misery has been raised in the media for nearly a decade now, with fervent appeals to put restrictions on them, but to no avail.
The influence wielded by vested interests being strong, the government continued to ignore the appeals for legislation for years. In 2007, the Supreme Court took notice of the matter and observing that Pakistan had turned into a paradise for those trading in human organs, it called on the government to urgently introduce a law to put an end to the heinous business. This led the Shaukat Aziz government to promulgate a less than satisfactory Ordinance, which the government subsequently failed to fully implement.
A study meanwhile, conducted by an Aga Khan University team, released early this year, also noted that "Pakistan was fast becoming a haven for the exploitative use of human organs." In June, the Supreme Court again observed that the provisions of the Ordinance were not being adhered to strictly and that despite the prohibition on the sale of organs, the trade was going on allegedly in two hospitals, one in Islamabad and the other in Lahore.
It goes to the credit of the government that it put together the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Bill, which bars the removal or transplantation of human organs, other than for therapeutic purpose and got it passed in the National Assembly through consensus. Credit has also to be given to Pakistan's outstanding kidney transplant surgeon Dr Adeeb Rizvi, who had campaigned for framing such a law. The bill stops short of allowing the removal of an organ only from a cadaver. It allows a voluntary organ or tissue donation by at least an 18-year-old living donor to any other 'genetically and legally related' person, who is a close relative such as a parent, son, daughter, sister, brother and spouse, with authorisation from an evaluation committee of specialists in the field. According to the bill, anyone making or receiving payment for the supply of human organs is to be punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to 10 years and with a fine, which may extend to one million rupees. The bill also prohibits the sale of organs to foreigners.
Poverty has forced people in the past to sell their blood but the sale of kidneys is a relatively new phenomenon, which has been made possible after the advances made by surgery in the field of transplantation. While the development came as a boon to mankind, it provided an opportunity to unethical elements in the medical profession to play with human lives to mint millions. Among their targets were the vulnerable sections of society urgently in need of money. These included members of bonded labour who wanted to gain freedom by paying back the debt owed to landlords and brick kiln owners.
There were others amongst the poorest of the poor who thought they could start a new career with funds at their disposal. With rich kidney patients in the Gulf region, North America, Europe and Australia in need of transplantation, and willing to pay large sums of money for the procurement of the organ and surgery, there was a thriving demand for kidneys. Those running hospitals, specialising in organ transplant, hired middlemen to lure the indigent donors, who were kept in the dark about the consequences of kidney removal to their physical wellbeing.
Within years, organ transplant became a flourishing business. There were also reports of the theft of kidneys during surgical operations. Consequently, thousands of people have lost their kidneys over the last few years and are suffering from physical disabilities caused by the removal of the vital organ, including reduced work efficiency. It is not enough to make a law.
Equally important is to implement it. It provides one satisfaction to note that the bill envisages a monitoring authority headed by the federal health minister. The authority would not only monitor transplantation of human organs and tissues, but also enforce prescribed standards for institutions and hospitals dealing with it. It would also investigate allegations of breach of any provision of the act. The new law would end the exploitation of the needy, often through deception, only if the monitoring authority is vigilant and is willing to use its powers effectively.
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IN total defiance of the world opinion and concerns of the international community, world leaders have decided to put off the task of clinching a globally binding agreement on climate change at next month’s summit in Copenhagen.
US President Barack Obama and other world leaders have agreed instead to reach a less specific “politically binding” agreement in Copenhagen that would postpone the thorny and real issues to a distant and uncertain future. The decision came at a breakfast meeting of APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit) leaders in Singapore yesterday. The meeting was also attended by Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who is going to host and preside over the much-awaited global environment summit in the Danish capital.
However, now that the world leaders have decided not to decide anything at the Copenhagen summit, we are not sure what Prime Minister Rasmussen is going to preside over! By postponing the urgently needed steps on climate change to the uncertainty of the future, the US has virtually derailed the Copenhagen conference ?and its agenda. That this should happen under President Barack Obama is most unfortunate and disturbing. After years of denial in Washington of the clear and present danger the global warming poses to our world, Obama had signalled a positive shift in the US stance.
However, just as on many other issues Obama has ostensibly softened his original and principled stand under pressure from politicians on either side of the divide and various vested interests and lobby groups, the president appears to have watered down his policy on the climate change as well. This turnaround in Washington is most disappointing and deals a severe blow to international efforts to put a far more stringent and reasonable protocol on carbon emissions in place. As we have argued in this space before, cutting carbon emissions and lowering global temperatures is absolutely essential and vital to the future of this planet and the very survival ?of human race.
Scientists believe and there’s enough scientific evidence to prove that it may already be too late to initiate the steps like cutting greenhouse gases or emissions. Even if we immediately introduce the emission cuts recommended by the scientific community, we may not bring down global temperature to safe, desirable levels. Which means there will still be a threat to low-lying nations like Bangladesh and Maldives with the rising sea levels.
This is why climate experts, environment groups, poor Third world countries and hundreds of millions of ordinary people had been desperately hoping that the world leaders would agree on a new climate deal in Copenhagen to replace the outdated Kyoto Protocol. But clearly now that is not going to happen. As the world’s largest producer of carbon emissions until recently (now it’s China) and industrial superpower, no climate deal is possible without the US involvement and support. It’s still not too late for President Obama and other world leaders to correct their stand and go to Copenhagen for a real and meaningful climate deal. This is the greatest change Obama could gift to his people — and the world. Maybe world leaders can afford to wait but this melting planet can’t! Khaleej Times
—Arab News
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