19 March 2010
President Asif Ali Zardari has signed the human transplant bill into law and offered to donate his organs to be used for transplant after his death. A high level authority and evaluation committees will be formed for the removal, storage and transplant of human organs and tissues for therapeutic purposes.
The law prohibits the sale of organs to foreigners and will allow a voluntary organ or tissue donation to any other genetically and legally related person with authorisation from an evaluation committee of specialists in the field. The minimum age for donors will be 18 years.
The law prescribes imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 million for those involved in the removal and sale of human organs without the prescribed authority. According to Health Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin, over 50,000 Pakistanis die of kidney failure, 10,000 of liver failure and 6,500 of heart failure every year. He said 42 institutions had been authorized to conduct transplants across the country. He also said organ transplant was permitted in Islam and was legal in a number of Muslim countries.
