Lahore (May 07, 2017): Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday ordered concerned authorities to launch crackdown on those involved in illegal kidney trade in the province, saying the elements don’t not deserve any concession.
He was presiding a high level meeting over the issue here on Sunday in Lahore. During the meeting a report regarding illegal organ trade was presented to the chief minister.
Addressing the meeting, Shahbaz Sharif said that illegal kidney trade was a criminal offence and people involved in this heinous crime did not deserve any leniency.
He added that those doctors carrying out illegal kidney transplantation were a stigma on the noble professional.
He added that the provincial government would go to any extent to eradicate this illegal trade. Law will come into force against those exploiting suffering humanity, he declared.
He directed the provincial heath department to be active against the illegal organ trade and also run campaign for creating awareness among people about the illegal trade.
It is to be mentioned here that last week ago, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) busted an illegal organ trade gang in Lahore. The agency also lodged first-ever case under the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) against two doctors, two foreigners and two organ donors.
Separately on last Sunday, the FIA also arrested two more foreigners from a hotel in the city’s Gulberg area who were due to undergo organ transplant within the next couple of days.
FIA said the suspects had been involved in the illegal business of human organ transplantation for the last several years, and most of their clients were foreigners, particularly from the Middle East.
FIA officials had claimed that the accused doctors, with the help of middlemen, used to arrange for the provision of kidneys by exploiting the poor by purchasing their kidneys at a low price and selling them to foreigners for exorbitant amounts in dollars.
The gang has already undertaken several illegal kidney transplants in the past by setting up small operation theatres in rented houses in posh localities, the FIA officials added.
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