The Philippine government will ban commercial sales of kidneys of the Filipinos to foreigners under the guise of medical tourism, Xinhua quoted the official Philippines News Agency as saying today. The Department of Health has asked hospitals to strictly follow the existing rules on kidney donation and transplantation that limit to 10 percent the number of foreign transplant patients, while a new government order is yet to come into force to ban such abuse of the poor Filipinos, said the News Agency. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that the government will investigate and punish members of the medical community who promote commercial organ donation and violate the rules, according to the News Agency. A new policy declares kidney transplantation is not part of medical tourism in the country. However, foreign patients are still allowed to go to the Philippines to have their transplants here, it added. "Organ transplant is not included and we do not advertise transplants in our medical tourism," Duque said. A previous government policy allowed foreign patients to come to the Philippines for kidney transplants, which has enabled hundreds of foreigners to get a kidney from Filipino donors for around 100,000 pesos (2,500 U.S. dollars). A new government order opts a new system wherein a foreign patient will be required to pay for the operation of a poor Filipino suffering from end-stage kidney disease, said the News Agency. Under the new government order, all health related facilities should not allow the trade of kidney. Duque said the new order will also create the Philippine Board for Organ Donation and Transplantation as its policy-making body and the Philippine Network for Organ Donation and Transplantation for implementation matters. "The new system will provide sustainable livelihood, health insurance and good health care to Filipino kidney donors in order to ensure that they will not be exploited," he said. The new polices in kidney donor and transplant followed reports that the overwhelming demand for organ donors in the increasing number of end stage renal disease cases worldwide has opened gateways for abuse on Filipino donors.
