Hundreds and possibly thousands of poor Egyptians sell their kidneys and livers every year to pay off debts and buy food, making the country a regional "hub" for organ trafficking, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The bill, which is causing controversy among medics, clerics and rights activists, says organs donated from live donors will be restricted to "family members of the fourth degree", and that the removal of organs without official authorization would be considered first-degree murder and be punishable by death.
Official authorization for organ removal will come from a three-person panel to be established by the Higher Committee for Organ Transplants, a Ministry of Health-affiliated body. For dead patients, the law stipulates that the panel reach consensus on whether or not the potential donor is dead – an issue on which there is much contention.
Dead or alive?
The consensus in the medical profession is that if a person’s entire brain is dead, the person is dead, even though their heart may continue to beat for a short time. This provides an opportunity to obtain organs while they are still in good condition for transplantation. Some Muslim clerics and MPs say a person’s heart must stop before he or she can be pronounced dead.
"Apart from this, the law is totally against Islamic law, because man doesn’t have the right to donate his or her body, which is God’s after all," said Mohamed Awadeen, a professor of Islamic law at
However, Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, Grand Sheikh of
Source: Africa Daily