214 people fell victim to organ trafficking in seven years in Punjab: report
Initial report into the matter has been forwarded to the interior ministry, said FIA spokesman.
LAHORE (Daily Dunya) – The organ trafficking has continued unabated in Punjab despite tall claims as kidneys of 214 people have been sold out in seven years whereas 15 victims also lost their lives.
According to Daily Dunya report, as many as 49 cases have been registered in various police stations across the province but not a single influential suspect has been detained so far.
The report stated that police lodge cases against the doctors and hospital administration but due to lack of evidence, the criminals get acquitted. The officers said that the suspects sell kidneys to the hospitals in Defence, Garden Town, Shadman and Valencia to hold treatment of the international clients, particularly from wealthy Gulf nations.
Sources told that majority of the affectees including Nishtar Colony’s Iqbal bibi, Shahdara’s Javed, Ferozpur Road’s Ahsan, Jabbar and Shakil have also succumbed to their injuries.
Keeping in view the surge in this crime, government has sought the assistance of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to arrest those involved in different incidents in Lahore, Faisalabad, Layyah, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin, Sargodha, Jhang, Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Kasur and Rawalpindi.
Spokesman to FIA, Hammad said that strict action would be taken against the culprits whereas initial report into the matter has been forwarded to the interior ministry.
Earlier, FIA uncovered an illegal kidney donation racket and arrested six people, including two doctors, after raiding a house where unauthorised surgeries were reportedly underway.
"A team comprising seven officials raided a house in Lahore and caught four people red-handed illegally transplanting kidneys to two Oman nationals," Jamil Ahmad Mayo, Deputy Director of the Federal Investigation Agency said.
The two Omanis, who have also been taken into custody, had paid seven million rupees ($70,000) each for a kidney, he said.
Organs can only be donated by close relatives in Pakistan and buying and selling them is illegal.
However, a chronic shortage of organs for transplant has fuelled a black market, with acute poverty forcing some people to sell their kidneys to eke out a living.
