BMJ  2008;336:1378 (14 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39559.489051.94

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Personal View

Commercial transplantation in Pakistan and its effects on Western countries

See also Personal View doi: 10.1136/bmj.39559.626632.94

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In contrast to developed countries, where cadaveric donation is the main source of transplants, most of the world’s poor countries, including Pakistan, rely mainly on donations from unrelated live donors. It is claimed that these donations are voluntary, but in reality kidneys are often bought from poor people to be transplanted into affluent recipients. And where the donor is actually a relative, although on paper the donation may seem to be motivated by altruism, in a male dominated society such as Pakistan this is often not the case. Sadly the donors, almost all of whom are female, typically have no say in any affair connected to their lives. In my experience of surgery in Pakistan, 95% of donations from live relatives were from sisters, daughters, mothers, female cousins, or from one of several wives.

In the past few years "transplant tourism" has become a lucrative business in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and . . . [Full text of this article]

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