DRA. LOI ASSAILS PLAN BY DOH TO INCREASE FOREIGN
KIDNEY TRANSPLANT IN THE COUNTRY

Senator Luisa "Loi" Ejercito Estrada yesterday assailed the reported plan of the Department of Health to double the number of foreigners being given kidney transplant in the Philippines as part of the Macapagal Arroyo administrations medical tourism program.

If allowed, this would be one of the most hideous tourism program ever designed by any governmentmake its own citizens as the source of human organ parts needed by rich but dying foreigners, Estrada said.

A medical doctor by profession, and popularly known as Dra. Loi, the wife of President Joseph Estrada said information reaching her office disclosed that on Saturday, February 10, the Department of Health has scheduled a national consultation on kidney transplant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center, Pasig City. The event is reportedly to be presided by DOH undersecretary Jade del Mundo.

In that meeting, the agency is allegedly set to propose that the quota on foreigners allowed to have kidney transplant in the country be increased from 10 percent to 20 percent. The drastic policy shift is reportedly set to be implemented this year.

The change of policy on kidney transplant, Dra. Loi noted, simply mean that for every 100 kidney transplant patients, 20 slots would be immediately reserved for foreigners who have the money to pay for a surgery. With an available donor, a kidney transplant range from between P75,000 to P150,000.

Considering that kidney-related ailments are one of the most costly to treat, this proposed policy of the government would only result in more wanton trade of this vital human organ that has also already victimized countless of our poor citizens," Dra. Loi said, adding:

Today, it may only be human kidney but tomorrow, what would this government think of promoting to foreigners in order to market the country as a truly tourist haven?

The former First Lady also doubted if the concerned members of both chambers of Congress have been previously informed about the health departments impending policy change.

I myself am a doctor but none from the DOH ever approached my office to invite me to attend this very crucial consultation. Nevertheless, I planned to invite myself," Dra. Loi said. According to her, if needed she plan to ask her colleagues to hold an inquiry on the matter despite Congress already under recess.

There are matters that cannot wait and I believe this is one of them. No less than a full disclosure and satisfactory explanation is needed here, Dra. Loi said.

She further noted that she is very much aware of the importance of a healthy kidney, the reason why during the aborted presidency of her husband, President Estrada, she advocated for the purchase of dialysis machines for free distribution to the various public hospitals all over the country.

Rather than pursue the program I initiated to control the spread of kidney-related diseases, this government sees it fit to instead commercialize the kidneys of the remaining healthy but poor Filipinos and sell them to rich foreigners in the guise of promoting tourism, the former First Lady said.