Foundation calls on health minister to take measures against illegal organ transplants

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

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The head of the Turkish Kidney Foundation has sent a letter to Turkey’s health minister demanding him to take action against a recent court ruling which has prompted fears of increased organ trade in the country. 

Turkish Kidney Foundation head Timur Erk demanded Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu take action against the two court rulings and take measures to prevent illegal methods of organ transplantation in his letter.
 
Erk’s letter came a day after two Turkish courts annulled the procedures of an organ transplant commission prohibiting organ donation to third parties.

The ruling was issued by the fifth and sixth administrative courts in Istanbul on the grounds that the only treatment for some patients was an organ transplant. 

The courts said the rationale stated by the Ethical Commission for the Assessment of Organ Transplantation Applications, a commission responsible for organ transplant decisions, prohibiting organ transplants between non-related persons should be based on solid information stated in a written document.

Annulling the procedures of the commission, which have thus far prohibited organ transplants between two non-related persons because there of a lack of ethical and legal barriers between the parties involved, however, has doctors and leading medical organizations worried.