Ibrahim Alawi
Okaz/Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — Police here have arrested three Arab men for their alleged involvement in organ trade, according to a police source.
The source said a Saudi man reported his ID card was stolen by a gang of three Arab men who used it to open a medical file at a public hospital.
He claimed the gang members would impersonate Saudi citizens and contact chronically ill patients, saying they have a database of donors living abroad who are willing to donate on demand, said the source.
The source said police opened an investigation into the complaint and arrested the three men.
“A police officer went undercover as a renal failure patient seeking a healthy kidney. The officer was approached by one of the gang members and was offered the same ruse. The officer went along the interaction until the police were able to identify all three members of the gang and arrest them,” said the source.
He said the gang members would face serious legal consequences for illegally concluding organ deals.
“The gang members confessed to their crimes including allegations of forging legal documents. They also revealed the names and identities of two accomplices,” said the source.
According to Dr. Faisal Shaheen, director of Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation, there are 18,000 renal failure patients in the Kingdom and 60 percent of them are awaiting transplantation.
“It means there are 10,800 patients awaiting donors. In the past year alone, we had 130 donors who were not relatives of the patients,” said Shaheen.
He said 80 percent of the patients needing organ transplantation usually have the operation done immediately without being waitlisted.
“The priority always goes to patients who are on their death bed and will have their lives jeopardized if they were waitlisted. Hospitals contact the center to inquire about the organs available before transferring patients for transplantation,” said Shaheen.
He said buying organs outside the health sector could prove fatally dangerous to the patient.
“People who engage in organ trade do not take into account the sanitary aspects, risking the lives of both the donor and the receiver," he added.
