Donor shortage leads to ‘transplant tourism’

GENEVA - Demand for human organ transplants far exceeds supply, fueling the growing trend of “transplant tourism” from wealthy countries to developing nations where organs can be bought, the World Health Organization said Friday.
The kidney is the most sought-after organ with the 66,000 transplanted in 2005 only covering 10 percent of the estimated need, said WHO. In the same year 21,000 livers and 6,000 hearts were transplanted.
“Both kidney and liver transplants are on the rise, but demand is also increasing and remains unmatched,” said the agency, which held a meeting of experts from around the world this week to combat the trend।
WHO encourages countries to make use more of the organs of their own deceased people rather than let citizens buy them from developing countries.
Because a person can live with only one kidney, people in poor countries may be lured into selling one of them to a person in need.
About 10 percent travel for donationsIn Pakistan 40 percent to 50 percent of the residents of some villages have only one kidney because they have sold the other for a transplant into a wealthy person, probably from another country, said Dr. Farhat Moazam of Pakistan, one of the participants in the meeting.
Moazam said Pakistani donors are offered $2,500 for a kidney, but in the end they receive only about half of that because middlemen take the rest.
In Western countries package deals are advertised on the Internet for as low as $12,000 or $20,000 to receive a kidney and seven days of hospitalization in a transplant country, Moazam said.
“It would be far more expensive to have it done in North America,” she said.
Dr. Luc Noel of WHO said of the total kidneys transplanted, about 6,000 or an estimated 10 percent in 2005 involved either the donor or the recipient traveling, usually to avoid violations of the law in one of the countries.
“Live donations are not without risk, whether the organ is paid for or not,” Noel said। “The donor must receive proper medical follow-up but this is often lacking when he or she is seen as a means to making a profit. Donations from deceased persons eliminate the problem of donor safety and can help reduce organ trafficking.”
Dr. Jeremy Chapman of Australia, another participant in the meeting, told reporters that the drive behind transplant tourism is very strong.
“The driving instinct for survival amongst people who face almost certain death. Their heart is failing, their kidney is failing, their liver is failing,” Chapman said, adding that on the other side potential donors may need money.
“The result is that in far too many communities of the world the rich prey on the poor.”