Egypt: Muslim-Christian Organ Donation Exchanges Still Banned...

Despite the agreement on the possibility that Muslims and Copts could be mutually donors of organs, the chairman of the Egyptian doctors' association, Muslim Hamdi el Sayed, decided to ban the donations waiting for the approval of an ad hoc law, currently under discussion in Parliament. The goal is to impede fictitious donations, actually made for money.

The decision however sparked off a fierce polemic by the Copts who consider it a discriminatory measure. The news was reported by the Egyptian and Arab media after Copt lawyer Naguib Jibrael, chairman of the non-government organisation Egyptian union for human rights, threatened to take El Sayed in court.

"The association of the doctors behaves as if it were an authority that has the right to issue fatwas (religious opinions), Al Azhar or the church, putting in discussion even the right to citizenship," the lawyer says. "Why the Muslims are not angry at this decision, as some Copts are?" replied the chairman of the doctors association who is also chairman of the healthcare committee at the lower house of Parliament and author of the bill currently under discussion in Parliament.

The decision to block for the moment the donations between Muslims and Copts and vice versa, El Sayed claims, came from the need to impede the illegal trade of organs, but there is no objection to the donation if it is really free. (ANSAmed).