The illegal human organs trade in Azerbaijan

Today, Azerbaijan is not ready technically for operation to remove human organs and transport them abroad, a member of the Azerbaijani branch of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Tamilla Karimova said.

Azerbaijan was named among the countries where the Israeli criminal groups engaged in trafficking of human organs. Israeli police arrested members of a criminal group, who for several years were involved in illegal trade in human organs for transplantation.

Criminals put ads in newspapers, offering to pay up to 100 thousand dollars for a kidney. Sometimes though, if the trade was successful, the sum for the organ was much less, 10 thousand at least, if not less. For the kidney removal, donors were transported abroad (including countries such as Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Philippines). Most of the time, the donors would come back with postoperative complications, with no medical records at hand which confirm the transaction.

"The human organ removing operation is a complex procedure, which requires specific conditions not only for its conduction, but also for the storage and transportation" said Kerimova.

According to her, special conditions must be prepared for the storage of the organs, containers to be precise.

A man who got his kidney removed becomes disabled, and for the health reasons he, sooner or later will have to go to the hospital, she said.

"I am the chief doctor of the clinic, which draws 60 thousand people, but so far no one complained about the fact that he had a kidney removed for transportation abroad", - Karimova added.

According to the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Policy of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) Hadi Rajabli, there is a law on transplantation and an article in the Law on Health Care.

"This law allows an organ transplant, but not for sale, as this may lead to criminal business," - he said.

"Its adoption could prevent serious crimes, because for the purpose of obtaining human organs, people are often killed", he added.

According to human rights activist Novella Jafaroglu, people go for the sale of organs because of economic insolvency.

"What the Israeli group did is a shock, but if our country is mentioned among others in this case, involving the surgery to remove the kidneys, the law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan must take appropriate steps," said Jafaroglu.

According to her, law enforcement agencies need to keep an eye on foreign doctors who come to Azerbaijan with some medical suggestions to protect citizens.

It should be noted that the legitimate use of organs from living donors, usually permitted in most countries. However, in some jurisdictions, the national laws governing transplants, limited only by the donation of organs, which are taken from living relatives of the patient. In most states you may not use the donation of organs of people with mental disorders. In some countries it's not allowed to donate organs of prisoners, and in Italy, is strictly prohibited importation of organs of prisoners sentenced to death.


/Trend Life/