About SIUTOrgan Trade

SIUT's Struggle against the Organ Bazaar

While being the foremost center for living related kidney transplants, SIUT has also struggled hard to redress Pakistan’s infamous descent into the world’s cheapest organ bazaar. The background to tourism in Pakistan was firstly the prohibition in India that diverted the kidney trade here; secondly the absence of law prohibiting sale of organs and transplant tourism and thirdly that all private commercial center were able to advertise openly on the web.

Rich buyers travelled to Pakistan from Europe, the Middle East and India and transplant tourism became an industry as foreigners would pay US$ 20,000 to 30,000 for a transplant package. This rampant trade exploited the poor where the middle man further siphoned off money.

By the year 2007, of 2500 transplants performed annually in Pakistan, 2000 were unrelated commercial transplants, 1500 of which were for foreigners. Of the 500 living related transplants, 50% were being done at SIUT.

As part of its campaign against the exploitation and sheer neglect of commercial donors, SIUT conducted several survey and published papers that highlighted the plight of these kidney vendors and the poor outcomes of recipients of commercial transplants.

• A socioeconomic survey of kidney vendors in Pakistan
• Commercial transplants in local Pakistanis from vended kidneys: a socio-economic and outcome study
• Conversations with Kidney Vendors in Pakistan
• Health Status and Renal Function Evaluation of Kidney Vendors: A Report from Pakistan

After decades of struggle, in March 2010 Pakistan was fortunate to have been able to pass a viable and authentic transplant law which was achieved with the longstanding joint efforts of the Transplant Society of Pakistan, Pakistan Society of Nephrology, Pakistan Association of Urological Surgeons, the judiciary, media, academia, civil society, patients, students and finally the government. In an era of divides it was passed unanimously in the Senate and National Assembly and most importantly was further endorsed by the Shariat Court when the appeal to change the law was denied and the religious court declared sale of organs to be against the dignity of Islam.