Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Manila (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic bishops of the Philippines have decried the widespread “immoral and grossly exploitative” practice of soliciting donations of vital human organs which offends the dignity of the person for economic profit. The Bishops' Conference intervened to call attention to the "spreading organ trafficking, particularly the commercialisation of kidneys, is silently but steadily thriving in rural and urban poor communities". The phenomenon is in the hands of organised crime which does not hesitate to abduct and kill street children, homeless people, ordinary people for the trafficking of vital organs.
The Bishops' Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace raised the alarm. “Organ trade is without regard for charity and altruism, without regard for compassion, and certainly without regard for love; only for self-preservation and deception, fuelled by greed and destitution,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said in a statement. The Commission said the number of organ transplant operations in the country had grown from 200 to 400 a day. “Wealthy and middle-class patients from Europe and the United States with end-stage renal diseases flock to the Philippines to avail of the cheap transplant procedures,” the statement said. The Commission said for $50,000 foreigners may undergo organ transplants in any premier hospital in Metro Manila.
The Bishops condemned the traffickers who prey on poor and impoverished people who have weak bargaining power and are unaware of the risks involved. After selling their kidneys, most of them remained desperately poor. "The body as an ‘object’ is to violate the dignity of the human person” the Bishops said, reaffirming the dignity of every human person, made of soul and body.
The Bishops called for more stringent laws to address the illegal organ trade and punish person convicted of recruitment, hiring, adoption, transport and abduction of persons for the purpose of removal or sale of organs. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 18/12/2007 righe 27 parole 272)
