The news of respectable health organisations that choose
to discriminate on the basis of colour in this day and age is utterly deplorable.
As a South Asian who has personally benefited by receiving a kidney transplant,
I am indebted to the fair national health service we have in this country.
I find it appalling that institutions such as The UK Transplant Support
Services Authority and the Northern General Hospital have been found to
be bowing down to demands and conditions set out by a donor that can only
be defined as racist. The medical profession must uphold its high standards
and rise above the ignorance and immaturity that this case demonstrates.
These health authorities should be in a position of authority to lay down
their own conditions of receiving organs with no strings attached.
If such practices are allowed to continue, we will
come to a day when donors would be allowed perhaps to specify the age,
sex, race, religion and even the colour of hair of the recipients! This
must not be allowed. I am pleased that the Health Secretary Frank Dobson
is taking a firm stance in this issue to ensure it is not repeated. The
selection criteria for organ transplants should only be made on a purely
medical basis based on the best tissue typing and blood grouping rather
than on the colour of a person's skin. Donors should leave the decision
of who receives the organs to medically qualified professionals who are
there to work in the best interests of everyone in society - regardless
of race, creed, colour or sex.
Organs have no colour apart from the colour of blood.
Deepak Mahtani
South Asian Development Partnership (Organ Donation Campaign Director)
& Transplants in Mind (T.I.M.E.) - Executive Committee
