Tuesday, April 29, 2008 DOH to fully ban organ transplant for foreigners
A MONTH after approving a policy that would end the illegal sale of human organs in the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) will announce on Tuesday its plan to totally ban it.
As early as January, the DOH suspended organ transplantation for foreigners and drafted the new policy, which also paved for the creation of a board that will set the guidelines on all organ procedures in the country.
Dr. Enrique Ona, chief of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), said the total ban on organ procedures for foreigners is a "welcome move" to address the commercialization of organ donation in the country.
The DOH impose the temporary ban on organ transplant for foreigners as non-Filipinos are being prioritized for medical procedure over local patients as donors are offered payments between P100,000 to P200,000 each.
The administrative order, signed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III in March, states "kidney transplantation is not part of medical tourism."
Since 2005 when the government ventured in medical tourism, various health facilities have opened their services to foreign patients in a bid to make the Philippines not only a tourist spot but also as a medical destination.
From 2006 to 2007, about 200,000 patients from foreign countries that include the United States and its territories, South Pacific nations, Canada, Korea, and Japan have come to visit the Philippines for medical tourism.
There are 20 medical facilities in Metro Manila that perform organ transplantation, according to the DOH. About six to seven of those hospitals have been sanctioned and found violating the law on organ transplantation.
A board created by the new DOH policy was the one who made the recommendation to totally ban organ transplantation for foreigners.
About 10,000 to 12,500 Filipinos develop end stage renal disease (ESRD) annually and about 50 to 60 percent of them are kidney transplant candidates.
But less than 10 percent are given transplants because of insufficient supply and the failure of patients to raise money for the procedure. (MSN/Sunnex)
