PUTRAJAYA: Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam today did not deny that Malaysian doctors have acted as middlemen to arrange for organ transplants for their patients abroad.
He said this was illegal and did not have any support from the ministry.
"We will advise them against doing it as various complications can arise from this," he told reporters when asked on the matter.
Every country, he added, had their own regulations on organ transplants.
"This is because they also want to protect their citizens so that they are not exploited by unscrupulous parties especially those in the organ sales racket.
"Those who are doing it should avoid it. As far as our legal system goes, we (Malaysia) don't support that," Dr Subramaniam said.
It is learned that this scenario has been going on for some time through an unregulated way, which is against the Human Tissues Act 1974.
It is learned that these surgeries are largely conducted in countries such as China and India.
Dr Subramaniam said most of the organ transplants conducted in Malaysia involved living organ donors.
"We also want to increase the number of cadaveric donors so that we can harvest organs from those who have died," he added.
Unfortunately, he said, hospitals were not getting enough of such organs.
"This is something we are trying to improve," he added.
On the issue of organ donors' families who had prevented the harvest of the donors' organs upon death, he said at present the ministry was still honouring the family's wishes.
"But we are also studying on a mechanism how to strengthen our system so we can overcome this problem," he added.