Egyptian Sunni Cleric: Use Death Row Prisoners’ Organs for Transplant

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Written by The Media Line Staff
The Media Line

Mufti Muhammad Sayid Tantawi, the head of the Al-Azhar University in Egypt and one of the most influential clerics in the Sunni Islamic world has proposed that organs of prisoners on death row be used in transplant procedures, the Egyptian newspaper Daily News Egypt reported.

The proposal comes at a time when the Egyptian parliament is debating a new law on organ transplants, much of which has focused on the definition of when a person is dead.

Tantawi was, according to the paper, referring to the 10 men recently sentenced to death after being found guilty of kidnapping and raping a woman.

Parliamentarians opposing the proposal argued that it would be a violation of a person’s basic human rights to take his or her organs without consent.

In 1992, the then Egyptian attorney general ruled that doctors might take organs from a person after execution. The doctors were supposed to wait until the prisoner was pronounced clinically dead and keep his organs functioning while they operated. Instead, the doctors operated while the person was still technically alive. The attorney general then retracted his decision and charged the doctors with first degree murder.

Egypt is among the countries listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as hot spots for organ trafficking and is under pressure to follow the actions of other hot spots such as China and the Philippines to outlaw organ sales and to bar foreigners from undergoing transplants to stop what the WHO calls transplant tourism.

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EGYPTIAN HEALTH MINISTRY CRACKS DOWN ON ILLEGAL ORGAN TRADE

"...the current (organ donation) law stipulates that both the donor and the recipient be “alive,” limiting the organs that can be donated only to kidney and portions of the liver. The current law also dictates that both patients be Egyptian"

By Yasmine Saleh Daily News - Egypt

CAIRO: The Ministry of Health reported a significant decline in illegal organ transplants since it launched a campaign against the practice in hospitals nationwide, said a ministry official.

Dr Abdel Rahman Shahin, spokesperson for the ministry, told Daily News Egypt that in 2006, a special department was assigned to monitor private hospitals and medical centers in Egypt, where most illegal organ transplants are conducted and a thriving business of organ trading exists.

The ministry has since discovered several violations in well-known private hospitals in the country, he said.

According to Shahin, the current law stipulates that both the donor and the recipient be “alive,” limiting the organs that can be donated only to kidney and portions of the liver.

The current law also dictates that both patients be Egyptian.

According to Shahin, findings from the ministry’s investigation were sent to the public prosecution office.

“Many physicians are under investigation — one of whom received a three-year jail sentence for conducting an illegal organ transplant,” Shahin added.

The increase of such illegal procedures in 2008 — after a slight decline in 2007 — was a stark reminder that the current law needed to be amended, he said.

The Ministry of Health and the Doctors’ Syndicated tabled a draft law to the People’s Assembly, which is currently discussing the proposed amendments.

While the draft law will not directly prohibit organ donation between Muslims and Copts, Shahin said, it will give priority to family members, de facto limiting the occurance of inter-faith transplants.

The proposed law will also create a “waiting list” system, where patients are listed according to the severity of their cases.

One of the amendments proposed in the draft law is to allow non-living donors.

Delaying the PA’s decision on the draft law was the debate around the Sharia definition of death.

“Both the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mohamed Sayed Tantawy and the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa agreed that organs from non-living donors are permissible,” Shahin said.

Both agreed that when the brain stops functioning, the patient is considered dead.

On the other hand, the Islamic Research Center (affiliated with Al-Azhar institution) defined death as the complete deportation of life from the human body that is preceded by the failure of all organs.

However, to eliminate all doubt, the Ministry of Health suggested forming an independent committee comprised of doctors, public figures and a judge, to confirm the death of the donor as well as list patients according to their condition.

Under the new law, all organ transplants will be conducted in public hospitals so the ministry can monitor the procedure.

The new law will penalize doctors who perform illegal organ transplants, who will be subject to a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail. “The current law’s maximum penalty was a three-year jail sentence,” Shahin said.

Moreover, the hospitals or medical centers allowing illegal operations may be fined up to LE 1 million and can be shut down, he added.

While the law is being discussed in the PA, Shahin said, the minister of health issued a new decision to monitor organ transplants, making it obligatory for the donor and recipient to get approval from the Ministry of Health and the Doctors’ Syndicate.

The PA is expected to approve the draft law next April, Shahin said.

Last November, as part of its crackdown on the illegal business of organ trading, the Ministry of Health made spot checks on hospitals around Egypt.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves