ISLAMABAD: The human organ transplant and the protection of non-smokers health bills were tabled in the National Assembly and referred to the standing committees last week.

The Transplant of Human Organ and Tissues (Amendment) Act 2017 tabled by PML-N legislator Babar Nawaz Khan stated that in order to control the illegal transplantation of human organs and give an exemplary punishment to doctors and hospitals involved in the illegal organ transplantation, it was necessary to amend the law.

The bill suggested that the citizens of Pakistan shall not be allowed to carry out any transplant procedure abroad, nor any foreigner shall be allowed to visit Pakistan for transplantation purposes.

Movers seek stricter laws against illegal human organ transplant and steps for protection of non-smokers

“As poor Pakistanis are involved in selling their organs, it is suggested that even if the person needing a human organ is the blood relative of the donor but has a foreign nationality, the approval of the monitoring authority will be required.”

It was also proposed that a provision should be made on the application form for the computerised national identity card (CNIC) to ask about the consent of the CNIC holder if they wanted to donate their organs or tissue in case of an accidental or brain death.

The lives of upto 27 people can be saved if a person agrees to donate their organs after death. But there is no trend and awareness of the organ donation in the country.

As a result, human organs are sold in the black market all over the country and a number of health institutions and departments are involved in it.

There are some villages in Punjab where half of the residents are said to have sold out their kidneys.

During the meeting of a Senate standing committee last year, former interior minister Rehman Malik stated that scores of people were taken to China and other countries for liver transplantation but they died during the complicated process. Later, he added, the deceased were declared missing persons.

The Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health (Amendment) Act 2017 stated that there was a huge consumption of tobacco in the country. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen the laws on smoking.

The bill suggested that since there was no mechanism to ensure the proper implementation of the laws, the name and addresses of the authorised officials should be made public so that the citizens could lodge complaints with them.

One of the movers of the bill, Dr Nikhat Shakeel, told Dawn that every year it was stated that Pakistan received a revenue of over Rs100 billion from the tobacco industry.

“However, people of Pakistan pay many times more on the tobacco-related health issues. Moreover, people are contracting cancer and other diseases and spend lots of money on their treatment as they learn about the diseases at the last stage.”

The bill also suggested that cigarettes should not be sold in loose packing because it made the purchase affordable for teenagers, she said.

In reply to a question, Dr Nikhat agreed that the tobacco industry was very powerful and whenever tobacco-related bills were tabled in the assembly, it created hurdles in their passage.

“We have decided to devise a strategy to ensure that the bill is passed without losing its objective,” she said.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2017