12 arrests in Egypt for sale of organs

12 suspected human organ traffickers are accused of selling organs of Egyptians to foreign patients.

The Egyptian Ministry of Interior has announced that a group of 12 suspected human organ traffickers has been arrested, which includes three doctors, four nursing staff members, three workers in hospitals, and two medical tourism agents. The Giza group is accused of selling organs of Egyptians to foreign patients.

An Egyptian law that regulates donating organs has a condition that the host is a relative, and there is a total ban on the lucrative human organs trade.

The security forces arrested the suspects during an operation to remove a part of a liver and a kidney from a citizen in a private hospital, where the potential overseas recipient had paid $10,000.Other arrests followed the discovery of large amounts of cash and gold.

The Ministry of Health has denied claims that there is a regular organ trade in hospitals, claiming that organ transplants take place according to strict legal procedures in licensed hospitals and are subject to meticulous monitoring.

A documentary made in Germany suggests that the denial ignores the reality that Egypt has become known as an attractive destination for organ medical tourism as it is cheaper than Europe and has plenty of potential donors.

In December, another series of arrests referred 41 defendants to the Criminal Court on accusations of human trafficking and trading of human organs. The total amount of money the defendants gained from these crimes was more than EGP 20million. Twenty doctors working in public and teaching hospitals in the departments of urinary tract, general surgery, and anaesthesia—as well as 10 nursing staff members, 9 medical tourism agents, and 2 workers in the blood bank—were accused of operating 29 surgery operations to transfer organs to foreign patients. Another group selling body parts was also arrested.

Egypt passed laws to try to curb the trade, but according to the United Nations, hundreds of poor Egyptians still sell kidneys and livers each year to be able to buy food or pay off debts. There have also been concerns over the fate of migrants who come into contact with the traffickers.

Typically, potential donors are recruited in one of two ways, either by crooked state hospitals that seek out those struggling financially in their care and then pass the patient’s details to a broker or poor donors meet with a broker. The broker then agrees the price with the donor. The broker agrees a price with the overseas recipient and a doctor carries out the transplant. The WHO estimates that donors can pocket as little as $2,000 USD for selling a kidney, just 10% of the amount spent by the patient undergoing the transplant. Most of the cash is then split between a network of brokers and doctors. The criminal gangs often refuse to pay the donor, while the recipient pays up front and either never gets an organ or gets one that is useless.