Font size: 
Some are poorer than others. Some are more undernourished and hungry than the rest of the population. Some have more body parts than others since a large number of desperate poor people have been selling their kidneys to foreign buyers.
The selling of kidneys in the Philippines has already reached an alarming level. The Department of Health avers it has no database on organ donations in the country. But there is a consensus that something must be done to minimize, regulate or even ban the trading of kidneys in the country.
In almost all urban poor communities in the Philippines, scores of young men and women have scars on the side of their bodies. These are indelible proof that they donated one of their two kidneys to local and foreign recipients.
Selling of body organs is against the law but this practice is thriving in the country. Why? Humans need to survive. Persons suffering from end-stage renal diseases need a kidney transplant to become healthy again. The lack of access to renal care and the high cost of dialysis increase the demand for kidney donors. On the other hand, the starving poor need money to buy food, clothing and other basic commodities.
A kidney costs only US$2,000 - $5,000 in the Philippines. Sometimes children of organ donors are given scholarships and other health allowances. But the money is a pittance compared to what the donors lose. Their lifestyles have to change since they cannot function as well as before. If they suffer from renal disease in the future, they may need a transplant too. Most of the time, donors are not properly informed about the negative impact on their bodies if they agree to sell their kidneys.
Kidney recipients are also not assured of becoming healthy again. They risk getting HIV, hepatitis or infection from the donors. The medicines they need to take may increase cardiac risk, hypertension and lipid disorders.
Those who profit from the trading of body organs are the government, hospitals, doctors and kidney brokers. Hospitals benefit from an increase in the number of paying patients. Doctors can practice their skills and enjoy higher compensation without leaving the country. Kidney brokers act as the middlemen who scout potential kidney donors in the slums.
The government has included kidney transplants in its medical tourism program. A senator estimates that the Philippines can expect to earn US$300 million per year if it focuses on improving the business opportunities for medical tourism. At present, there are 25 partner hospitals offering medical tourism services and they expect 175,000 medical tourists each year.
However, a former senator is against the proposal of the health department to double the number of foreigners being given kidney transplants in the Philippines. This was also the sentiment of a member of the House of Representatives who filed a bill seeking to "regulate the living non-related organ donations in the country to protect and promote the right to health of the people and instil health consciousness among them."
The lawmaker pointed out that "the organized practice of organ donation for profit is against ethical standards and is not within the commerce of man."
Even the influential Catholic Church has issued a statement condemning organ sales in the country. A bishop reminded the public that there is a "whale of moral difference" between organ donation and organ sales.
Church officials said "Our body ought not to be treated as a commodity or object of commerce, which would amount to the dispossession or plundering of the human body." They added that human organ sales or trade is morally unacceptable since it is contrary to the dignity of the human person. Instead of kidney selling, the church encourages voluntary organ donation from cadavers and also from living donors.
The former Speaker of the Philippine Congress delivered a privileged speech early this month lamenting the extent of corruption in government. He complained that "everything is for sale in this country." He was right. Even kidneys are sold in hospitals at bargain prices.
It is poverty which has forced more than 8 million Filipinos to work in other countries. The cheap labor cost in the Philippines has enticed foreign investors and employers to hire Filipino workers. Now, Filipinos are selling body parts to foreigners. This is the face of poverty in modern Philippines. The desperate poor may even be tempted to trade their souls if this was only possible.
The government insists the Philippines has registered the highest economic growth in the last 31 years. But it has failed to mention that more people are hungry today, more people are migrating to other countries and more people are living with only one kidney. Is this progress? Is this freedom?
--
(Mong Palatino is a Filipino youth activist, news editor of Yehey!, a Philippine-based web portal and Global Voices correspondent. He can be reached at mongpalatino@gmail.com and his Web site is
www.mongpalatino.motime.com. ©Copyright Mong Palatino.)