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Jakarta Post

Organ trade difficult to monitor

Sugianto (left) and his wife offer their kidneys for the cash they need to redeem their children’s school certificates

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, February 4, 2016

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Organ trade difficult to monitor Sugianto (left) and his wife offer their kidneys for the cash they need to redeem their children’s school certificates. The National Police are investigating illegal organ trading suspected to involve medical staff in three large hospitals in Jakarta. (Tempo) (left) and his wife offer their kidneys for the cash they need to redeem their children’s school certificates. The National Police are investigating illegal organ trading suspected to involve medical staff in three large hospitals in Jakarta. (Tempo)

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span class="inline inline-center">Sugianto (left) and his wife offer their kidneys for the cash they need to redeem their children'€™s school certificates. The National Police are investigating illegal organ trading suspected to involve medical staff in three large hospitals in Jakarta. (Tempo)

The Jakarta administration faces difficulties in both preventing the trade in human organs, and monitoring hospitals that might facilitate such illegal activities, because existing legislation does not sufficiently regulate organ transplantation, a health official has said.

"As the legislation does not cover the current situation, it is hard for us to monitor the hospitals," Jakarta health agency head Koesmedi Priharto told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday.

Currently, many people suffering from severe kidney failure opt for transplantation. As there were a lot of people in desperate need of money a trade in kidneys seemed inevitable, Koesmedi said.

Donating organs is not illegal in Indonesia but trading them is, as the 2009 Health Law stipulates that organs and or body cells may not be traded for whatever reason.

Koesmedi said there should be standard regulations that mapped out organ transplantation requirements, including clear explanations on the objective of the donor and the obligation of health workers to give provide advice to donors about the health impacts of organ donation.

'€œA person who wants to donate his or her kidney should do it voluntarily, not for profit. He or she also must be cautious about the effect on health caused by organ donation,'€ Koesmedi said.

The Jakarta Health Agency had not yet coordinated with the Health Ministry or the National Police to investigate recently discovered kidney-trading cases, Koesmedi added.

Previously, the police revealed that three hospitals in Jakarta might be involved in organ trading. One hospital, identified only by its initial C, is a public hospital while the other two, identified only by their initials C and AW, are private hospitals. The police are still investigating any involvement by the hospitals in the suspected organ trading.

So far, the police have questioned eight witnesses including alleged donors and doctors thought to be involved in the trade.

The police have named three suspects in the case, namely Yana '€œAmang'€ Priatna, Dedi Supriadi bin Oman Rahman and Kwok Herry Susanto.

Herry is alleged to have supplied the kidneys to hospitals in Jakarta while Amang and Dedi are alleged to have located potential kidney donors.

The suspects offered money amounting to Rp 50 million (US$3,661) to donors who mostly came from low-income families to agree to sell their kidneys. They then sold the kidneys to buyers for between Rp 200 million and Rp 300 million per kidney. (ebf)(+)

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