The selling of internal organs is illegal and has effects on the sellers’ health.
This was the reminder of the Department of Health (DOH) to the public after memes on “kidney for iPhone” trended on social media.
“I would like to remind our fellow Filipinos to not join social media groups that sell their organs, or we call it internal organs,” DOH Officer-in-Charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
The DOH discourages incentivized organ donations, where living organ donors who are not related to the recipient are motivated by financial rewards. This system creates a risk for both the donor and the recipient, exposing them to further injury.
“Once your kidney is ripped, there is a risk for you. You go through an operation then you will take medicines for you to maintain so that your body can process and function well because you removed one of your kidneys,” Vergeire explained.
The DOH, she said, only encourages organ donation of deceased relatives, including those who have been declared legally and medically brain dead to help others in need of transplantation.
Vergeire also cited Republic Act No. 7170, otherwise known as the Organ Donation Act of 1991, as amended by Republic Act No. 7885, where organ and tissue donations from donors who have been declared brain dead has been allowed.
Human transplantable organs include the kidneys, liver, lungs, heart, intestines, and pancreas, in addition to human tissues such as eye tissues (corneas, sclera, etc.), bones, skin, and blood vessels.
World Health Organization (WHO) data from 2017 show that deaths caused by various end-stage organ diseases involved up to 230,000 Filipinos.
This may have been prevented by organ transplantation.
Unfortunately, the DOH said organ donation from brain dead patients remains dismally low in the Philippines.
To heighten Filipino consciousness on the benefits of organ sharing, a presidential proclamation is being proposed to be issued designating the month of September of every year as “National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Month.”
The DOH, through the Philippine Organ Donation and Transplantation Program and the Philippine Network for Organ Sharing, continues to sustain advocacy and educational campaigns on deceased organ donation.
This can be done by signing up as organ donor cardholders and providing consent to organ donation.