Has South Africa become an organ trade mecca?

[dArKeR]

For the past five years South Africa has been a key player in the illegal international transplant tourism market with the government, medical fraternity and private hospital groups simply turning a blind eye.

This is according to University of California medical anthropology professor Nancy Scheper-Hughes, who, as a member of an international organ trafficking watchdog organisation, is in the country to assess the situation.

She is also helping the police with their investigation into a syndicate which bought kidneys from mainly poor Brazilians and sold them to Israeli recipients, with the operations performed at Durban's St Augustine's Hospital.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20040402034606590C104652&set_id=1

[Virginian]

1. I can't believe they said this...

"The networks believe what they are doing is morally and ethically defensible; that people have a right to sell their kidneys."

That pretty much equals "healthcare for the wealthy only." Lower paid people exist merely for the harvesting of their body parts?

I am glad we have UNOS here in the US to keep this sort of thing from happening. It is illegal to sell organs in the US, but it is NOT illegal to donate them.