THE shocking rescue of a young man, bound to a stretcher and moments away from having his kidney stolen in a Bahria Town house in Rawalpindi, should have been unthinkable in 2025. Instead, it is the second such bust in the city in a single week — proof that Pakistan’s organ trafficking industry is thriving under the nose of the state. The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act was passed 15 years ago to end the exploitation of the poor for profit. Yet the law is little more than paper when such rackets can operate undetected in an upscale housing society, complete with medical equipment, anaesthetic supplies and qualified surgeons. That such professionals — sworn to protect life — are repeatedly implicated points to the chronic failure of the health authorities to address the issue. The Human Organ Transplant Authority and its Punjab counterpart are equally culpable. Their job is to regulate transplants, vet donors, and investigate suspicious activity. Their inability, or unwillingness, to catch such operations before a crime is in progress makes them look like little more than rubber stamps. And then in this vacuum, law enforcement just happens to stumble upon victims by chance rather than based on intelligence reports.

Eradication requires dismantling the networks — and that means arrests leading to convictions, not quiet settlements. Surgeons involved should be permanently struck off the medical register. Private clinics and hospitals found complicit must be shut down, with owners facing asset seizure. Cross-agency task forces should be empowered to raid without political clearance, and fast-track courts must ensure swift, exemplary sentences. Preventing exploitation requires ending victim recruitment through awareness, tighter recruiter oversight and stronger medical ethics. The state must also work with international agencies to disrupt cross-border transplant tourism. Unless the networks profiteering from such a deadly trade are effectively neutralised, the next knock on the door may come too late.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2025