Lahore, Jul 29 (PTI) Eight members of an illegal kidney transplant network, including doctors and nurses, have been arrested in Pakistan's Punjab province, an official said on Tuesday.
According to a spokesperson of the Punjab Human Organ Transplantation Authority, a network involved in illegal kidney transplants has been uncovered in Sheikhupura, some 50-km from Lahore.
He said the illegal kidney transplant procedures were conducted at a private hospital. "During the raid, a kidney was being removed from a resident of Sheikhupura to be transplanted into an African national," the spokesperson said.
Eight people, including doctors and nurses, have been arrested, he added.
He said the network would charge at least PKR 7 million from a person for the illegal transplant. Usually, the kidneys are sold for up to PKR 10 million to the recipient, but donors hardly get 10 per cent of the total amount.
Raids are being conducted to arrest more people involved in the illegal network, he said.
The commercial trade of human organs was made illegal in Pakistan in 2010. The punishment for those caught includes a decade-long jail term and a huge fine.
There has been a rise in organ trafficking in Pakistan as people struggle with low wages and poor enforcement of the law.
A couple of years ago, the Punjab government had arrested the ring leader of such a network for extracting the kidneys of more than 300 people and transplanting them into rich clients.