18 August 2004	Wednesday	01 Rajab 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: The government on Tuesday agreed to tackle what it called an 'international mafia' trading in human organs by bringing in a legislation in this regard.

Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan made the commitment as the Senate standing committee on health met to discuss a draft bill moved by Senator Dr Shahzad Waseem to regulate the donation and transplantation of organs.

The committee's members unanimously supported the bill moved by the senator as a private member. The senators objected to moves by the health ministry bureaucrats to introduce an alternative bill.

Commenting on the move by the ministry's officials to introduce another draft bill in the committee, Senator Dr Abdullah Riar said: "This should not be presented as a draft bill but it could be a proposal."

Senator Dr Kausar Firdous said the ministry should not create a tussle by opposing the bill moved by a senator. Dr Waseem alleged that a "mafia" did not want the bill to be moved.

The committee's chairperson Senator Roshan Khursheed Bharucha said it would consider only the draft moved by the senator but suggestions of the ministry would be accommodated, if required.

The minister said his ministry had done a lot of work on the issue, which should be taken into consideration. He said the activities of the mafia involved in sale of organs had assumed horrendous proportions in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

He said a mafia involved in sale and purchase of organs operated in India, the United Kingdom and the United States. He said Brazilian street children had been killed to sell their hearts in the US for $40,000.

The committee was informed that efforts had been made on at least three occasions since 1994 to enact a bill on donation and transplantation of organs. Dr Waseem said that in the absence of appropriate legislation, Pakistan had become a hub of the trade in which rich buyers from European and Arab backgrounds exploited the poverty of people to buy their organs.

He said that in some cases bonded labourers were coerced to sell their organs to pay off their debts. "A black market in human organs has proliferated without checks in the country," he said.

The members of the committee directed the ministry to examine the legislation done in other parts of the world and give its recommendations. The committee was also given a briefing on the performance of the Federal Government Services Hospital.