Candice MontenegroThose who have studied the kidney trade say that foreigners paid as much as $60,000 to doctors and middlemen for their live-saving transplants. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of foreign patients received kidneys from so-called living, non-related donors, usually impoverished men who were not always in the best of health when they gave up their spare kidneys.Ĭritics say Health Secretary Ona was the 'brains' behind the kidney trade in the Philippines that flourished in the years 20. Ona also happens to be one of the country’s pioneering kidney transplant surgeons and was a central figure in the country’s “kidney tourism" at its height from 2005 until the ban took effect in 2008. Enrique Ona that he was considering a review of the policy imposed by his predecessor, Dr. But in recent months, the medical community has been buzzing with talk about a possible lifting of the ban after a statement last July by Health Secretary Dr. The notoriety, coupled with lobbying by doctors opposed to what they deem an unethical practice, led to a ban in 2008 on foreigners flying to the Philippines for kidney transplants. This page requires a higher version browser This high concentration of donors is just the tip of a nationwide iceberg of kidney donations earlier in the decade that led to the World Health Organization (WHO) calling the Philippines a global organ trafficking hot spot, making it to WHO’s ranking of the top five kidney-trading countries in 2007. Rommel is only one of several hundred cases of kidney donors documented by government social workers in just three impoverished towns in a remote corner of Quezon province. He was promised P100,000, but he left the hospital, the government’s National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), with only P80,000 and without his kidney, after various deductions that he was never told about. Parang ayokong magpakuha (I wanted to back out, but they already spent money on my tests so I was not allowed to go home.)," he said. “Nagastusan na raw ako, hindi na raw pwedeng bumalik, kaya hindi na ako nakauwi sa amin. After a month of being prepared in Manila for the transplant, like a cow being fattened, he wanted to back out. Five years later, Rommel is as poor as ever, the P80,000 he was given by the kidney broker long gone, leaving him just the scar and the bitter memory of being ripped off. Candice MontenegroNow Rommel’s spare is gone, transplanted into a foreigner who could afford the US$60,000 or so package deal for a kidney in the Philippines. – Rappler.Kidney donor Rommel Villanueva of Lopez, Quezon said he cannot go back to his construction job because he can no longer lift heavy objects. Months into his presidency, Marcos has also yet to name his secretary of health. Malacañang has not released more information on Tayag’s recent appointment. She said that Tayag just returned to his original post. Then health secretary Janette Garin, however, denied it was a demotion. Meanwhile, Tayag was demoted from assistant secretary to director in late 2014. In 2012, Tayag was investigated by the National Bureau of Investigation for his alleged involvement in the vaccine procurement which some groups tagged as anomalous.īecause of the probe, then Health Secretary Enrique Ona went on leave and eventually resigned, but initial reports from the NBI showed there were no irregularities in the purchase. The dancing doctor was also the director the DOH’s national epidemiology center. During the Aquino administration, he served as assistant secretary, spokesperson, and director of the DOH’s Bureau of Local Health Systems Development (BLHD).Īs director of BLHD, Tayag was in charge of strengthening regional capacities to support and assist local health systems. He also advised the health secretary on matters related to local health coordination and local health systems development.
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