From Victor Osula, Abuja
A Seniour Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana has called on the Federal Government to close down a thriving kidney market in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory FCT, following an expose by Trust Television.
“Fellow Nigerians, a thriving market for harvesting the organs of children of poor people has just been discovered in the Federal Capital Territory, said Falana, adding, “We call on the federal government to close down the illegal market and similar ones in other parts of the country.”
According to the TV, the epi- center of thriving market is in Mararaba, a suburb of the FCT. Most of the respondents are teenagers and even minors who could barely converse in English language and appeared to be unaware of the danger posed to their health.
Local hospital staff, kidney brokers and middle men said in the report, titled Kidney for Sale, Abuja’s Organ Thriving Black Market, to be trapping the uninformed, poor youths with promise to pay upward of one to two million Naira for a kidney. The report even showed a wise youth berating a named hospital that removed the kidney of his brother who is barely 17, threatening to report the hospital to the police. What is even intriguing is that parents are never informed or contacted about the organ harvesting.
According to Falana, SAN, ‘We, Nigerians, need to unite and rise strongly against organ harvesting and trafficking and demand the repeal of the National Health Act’s enabling law before we lose our collective identity as a nation.The obnoxious sections 48,51, and 53 must be repealed immediately.
“We say NO to a law that authorises the removal of our organs in the hospital without the consent of the donors.
“We say NO to a law that transfers the constitutional rights of every patient over their organ to the hospital authority.”
“Never again should Hospitals be allowed to remove organs from Nigerians without their consent.
“Nigerian masses have suffered enough – no way to organ harvesting and trafficking.”
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