Organ Trafficking: Booming trade amidst denials and fears

– Erring doctors will be punished – NMA President
Piqued by what she described as the new trend in human trafficking, the Director General of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Julie Okah-Donli, recently read the riot act to organ traffickers and their accomplices in Nigeria.

According to the anti-trafficking czar, influential Nigerians are behind this mode of trafficking – Organ trafficking, deemed far more lucrative than the normal run of human trafficking.

“The new trend now in human trafficking is organ transportation or organ trafficking, so to speak. They think selling of human parts is easier to make more money, unfortunately, that is the latest way of human trafficking now.

“The agency under my watch will not spare anyone caught in this act,” Okah-Donli declared. Before now, the attention of the body charged with the responsibility of fighting human trafficking in Nigeria (NAPTIP), was, according to stakeholders, riveted on trafficking in persons alone.

But, a report by organ watch, an organisation based in the University of California, USA, identified Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Oman and Saudi Arabia as major organ importing countries, noting that transplant tourism had become an issue in many other countries of all continents and regions.

However, investigation reveals that shortage of organs is now a nagging worldwide problem, as demand for organs outweighs supply.

According to reports, as of early 2016, 100,791 people were waiting for life-saving kidney transplants in the US while only 17,107 kidney transplants took place there in 2014. That year, 47,621 Americans died while waiting for kidney transplant that never came.

According to Asit Efrat of the Government Interdisciplinary Centre in Israel, “Organ brokers in the developing countries were poor, uneducated individuals; they are the people into selling their organs through the promise of financial gain and a better future.

Economic need drives most organ sellers, but in some cases, actual coercion is applied. Such cross-border form of organ trafficking is now known as “transplant tourism”.

A DG’S Alarm and the People’s Worry
Nigerians have expressed worry over the alarm raised by the DG of NAPTIP. Reacting to the latest mode of trafficking, public affairs commentator, Adeniyi Kunnu, said unlike human trafficking where one who runs a brothel, the secrecy of trafficking in organs is high.

“It is even more dangerous because victims whose organs are trafficked do not know. At times, they are told a lie; in other instances, they are shortchanged for giving their lives away. These amongst others are critical issues.’’

But, an engineer, Babajide Oladapo, expressed dismay at the development. “This is really strange. Organ trafficking? How do they do it? It’s amazing what people will do for money in this world,“ he exclaimed.

One business developer, Mr. Dare Ajenifuja indicts medical practitioners as accomplices before such horrible trafficking can succeed.

“I do not think this kind of trade can be successful without the assistance of doctors. Many things are happening that we don’t know. You cannot move organs from Nigeria to another land without the cooperation of experts.’’

Culpable doctors will be punished if… – NMA President
Speaking with The Daily Times on the possible involvement of doctors in organ trafficking, the president of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr Mike Ogirima, absolved doctors of blame.

However, stated that no one will be protected if they are found culpable in such unethical practice. His words: “That cannot be true. Of course, if any of our colleagues is caught in the act, the law will take care of him or her,” and he asked incredulously: “Is it possible for doctors to exhume bodies and remove their parts?”

But another medical doctor, Mustapha Musa, disagrees with the NMA President. For Musa, the crime of organ trafficking can hardly be successful without the assistance of doctors.

The Jos-based practitioner said, “I don’t have any idea about the industry. I don’ even know if the “trade” is booming in Nigeria, but I know sometimes ago in India, it was such a horrendous story regarding kidney trafficking. But my conviction is that such so-called trade cannot thrive without the complicity of my colleagues. Of course, a layman on the street cannot perform nephrectomy.’’

“We arrested a man with fresh heart” -Police
Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, admitted that although some suspects have been arrested with fresh human parts, it has not been established that they are into organ trafficking.

Ogunyemi told The Daily Times that, “We have arrested some people with human parts, but I can’t say we have recorded any case of organ trafficking in Ogun state.

“However, I can confirm that the activity of ritualists has increased. Some weeks ago, we arrested a pastor in Sango with human parts. Also in Ijebu, we arrested a man with a fresh human heart. These people are still being investigated,” he said.

The search for traffickers are ongoing, a police told our correspondent, but how soon this gory bloody trade will continue undercover is still a worry to the society at large.