Press Release/23 May 2008

The Department of Health (DOH) today clarified that the Philippine Board of Organ Donation and transplantation (PBODT) exempted the eight foreigners to undergo kidney transplant in the Philippines because of humanitarian considerations that they registered and were already on the waiting list of the national organ transplantation program even before the ban on foreign transplants was announced on April 29 following the directive of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The PBODT upheld the recommendation of the National Transplant Ethics Committee (NTEC) to exempt the Israeli patients since they followed all the medical and ethical procedures and they have already endured great personal sacrifice. “The foreigners, all Israelis, registered and have waited and followed due process at the time of their registration in December 2007,” Undersecretary of Health and Officer-in Charge of the DOH Mario Villaverde said. The PBODT is a collegial body composed of different sectors including the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC), the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC), the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), the Philippine Urological Association (PUA), the Philippine Society of Transplant and Ethics Committee (NTEC) and is chaired by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III. “We emphasize that all potential donors who volunteer at HOPE, including the donors of the 8 Israeli patients, have undergone the required medical tests and have been evaluated on their physical and psychosocial fitness. They and their families undergo a lengthy process of evaluation and orientation and they fully understand that selling and buying organs are strictly against the law,” Undersecretary Villaverde pointed out.

Volunteers who are present at HOPE with clear motives of outright selling are automatically eliminated from the donor list according to Undersecretary Villaverde. “Hence, of about 20 patients who walk in at HOPE as potential donors, only about 6 are found eligible and 3 actually undergo nephrectomy,” he elucidated.

The Kidney Foundation of the Philippines (KFP), a contracted NGO of the NKTI, is responsible for the post-nephrectomy medical care and follow-up of the donors. No monetary payment is permitted but expenses incurred by the living donor in terms of medical care directly resulting from the procedure, travel costs and lost wages are shouldered by KFP.

From Geneva, Secretary Duque who is attending the 61st World Health Asembly, “the DOH continues to uphold the highest ethical standards in organ transplant. We condemn the illegal trafficking of human organs, here and internationally. And we affirm our seriousness to abide by the directives of President Arroyo to protect our poor and vulnerable sectors from the deplorable sale of organs by banning foreigners from accessing organ transplant services using Filipino living non-related donors (LNRDs). We also continue to strengthen our system to implement and monitor a national organ donation and transplantation program that does not exploit anyone especially the poor.”