DOH warns vs fake information on organ trafficking
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health warned the public against “sensationalized messages” about illegal organ selling and stressed that hospitals do not participate in such activities.
The agency on Thursday issued such advisory, saying that hospitals and other health facilities continue to practice and facilitate safe and voluntary organ donations.
In a briefing on Friday, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, officer-in-charge of the DOH, said there were posts claiming that people are kidnapped and their organs are removed for transplant.
“‘Yung mga organ transplants na sinasagawa sa ating bansa hindi po basta bastang tumatanggap ng kahit anong organ from anybody. Pinag-aaralang mabuti ng hospital kung sino ‘yung appropriate na donor ng organs na ito para sa pasyente,” Vergeire said.
(The organ transplants that are performed in our country do not just use any organ from anybody. Hospitals carefully study who are the appropriate donors of organs for their patients.)
“We have ethics committee review for our organ transplant process,” she added.
The department earlier said that fake information on organ trafficking “sends out fear and discouragement to people to help those who are in need of organ donation and potential donors.”
The DOH urged people to be vigilant against false messages and to seek information from reliable sources such as the agency.
— Department of Health (@DOHgovph) August 25, 2022
Kidnappings ‘unrelated’
The Philippine National Police said Friday that the recent incidents of kidnappings across the archipelago do not appear to be linked to one another so far.
"These incidents we can say are not really the work of a group of people, the suspects we caught and these cases each have their own personal motives," Police Col. Jean Fajardo, PNP spokesperson, said in an interview aired over dzMM.
Fajardo also said the PNP is taking extra steps to deploy more cops to address the latest wave of street crimes being reported in and around Metro Manila. — Gaea Katreena Cabico with report from Franco Luna
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