A Nigerian doctor has dismissed claims of organ trafficking, insisting that young men who donated kidneys at an Abuja hospital months ago did so willingly and followed due legal process.
Speaking on Channels TV this morning, Dr. Torngee Malu said the donors were fully aware their kidneys would be harvested for a patient battling end-stage kidney disease.
According to him, the donors themselves stated that they went to court to swear affidavits before the procedure was carried out.
“This particular case is a case of kidney donation and not kidney harvesting and trafficking,” Malu said.
He argued that standard medical procedures were followed. “Donors must be over 18, must give consent, and the procedure must be done in a standard hospital. All of that was done,” he added.
Addressing the payment made to the donors after the procedure, the doctor drew a parallel with blood donation.
“Daily, people pay for their blood, which is also an organ, to be donated in hospitals,” he said. “The doctors in this case should be celebrated and not victimised.”
The comments come amid public outcry and allegations that the young men were lured and coerced into selling their organs.
Dr. Malu maintained that based on the victims’ own accounts, there was no coercion and the transaction was a voluntary donation.
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