Muscat – The Ministry of Health (MoH) has warned people against going to the black market for human organ transplant as it can threaten a patient’s life.

A statement issued by the ministry said that not only getting organs from the black market threatens a patient’s life, it is also an illegal act.

‘Join us to limit the spread of the phenomenon of black market for human organs and register for organ donation via the Shifa app,’ MoH urged.

Black markets in organ transplant sector are thriving globally on which human organs are accepted from unrelated and unknown donors against payments. The victims of such illegal organ trafficking are often poor and disadvantaged.

According to the United Nations’ Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020, trafficking for the purpose of forced criminal activity and for the removal of organs, apart from forced labour is reported in the MENA region.

‘Trafficking for exploitative begging was detected in North Africa as well as in the GCC countries. Females comprise most of the victims trafficked for sexual exploitation, and two thirds of the victims trafficked for forced labour. At the same time, most of the victims trafficked for the purpose of organ removal were men.’

There is also a gross imbalance between supply and demand across the world.

To avoid this crisis within, MoH has recently launched a national campaign to encourage organ donations. ‘The campaign aims to educate community members on the importance of organ donation ‘as it is a humanitarian act, a generous initiative, and an appropriate solution to failures of organs such as kidney and liver, and other ailments from which millions of people suffer worldwide’, stated MoH.

The ministry informed that 7,092 people have registered for organ donation so far. Donors registered themselves on the ‘Shifa’ app for posthumous organ donation, which was launched in December in 2021.

To establish guidelines for transplantation of human organs and tissues, the ministry had issued a decision in March 2021 to develop a national programme to regulate human organ and tissue donations.

The programme is contributing to clinical scientific research and implementation of the Technical Committee’s recommendations in regulating the practice of human organ and tissue transfer and transplantation.

Since 1988, 347 organ transplant surgeries were conducted in the sultanate.