By Firuza Azizi
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
December 20, 2024

The Taliban has banned organ transplants in a move that could deprive Afghans of potentially lifesaving treatment.

The extremist group said that the transplant of vital organs like the heart, kidneys, and lungs was “un-Islamic.”

The move has angered patients and doctors, who say thousands of Afghan patients will be impacted by the ban.

“I’m in deep trouble,” said Wahid, a resident of northern Parwan Province who has developed stones in both of his kidneys and gallbladder.

“What will I do now?” added Wahid, whose name has been changed for security reasons. “The doctors say a kidney transplant is the only way to cure me.”

Rashid, a resident of western Herat Province, says the Taliban’s ban will deprive his sick cousin of a kidney transplant.

“He is still waiting in the hospital even after our village gathered donations for his transplant surgery,” said Rashid, whose name has also been changed to protect his identity.

Bismallah Shewamal, an Afghan surgeon based in Germany, says organ transplants are a vital part of modern medicine.

“Organ transplants are an important means to save lives,” he said.

Organ transplants are widely used as medical treatment around the world, including in Islamic countries.

Most organs are voluntarily donated by individuals before their death. Some countries allow the close relatives of at-risk patients to donate their organs. In several European countries, all citizens are considered willing organ donors, although family consent is also sought.

Booming Organ Trade

But the sale and purchase of human organs is illegal internationally, although the practice remain a problem around the world.

In Afghanistan, widespread poverty has fueled an illegal organ trade, especially for kidneys. That is because most people can survive with just one kidney.

In the absence of laws regulating organ transplants, donors simply had to give their consent to a doctor and hospital to perform such procedures.

In Herat Province, the practice became so widespread that a settlement was nicknamed “one kidney village.” Afghans struggling to make ends meet sold their kidneys in the community for around $1,500 each.

The practice appears to have increased since the Taliban’s seizure of power in 2021, which triggered an economic crisis and worsened an already dire humanitarian disaster.

The Taliban’s ban appears to be a response to the booming organ trade in Afghanistan. But the decision will also impact patients who need transplants for medical reasons.

In a statement issued on December 10, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice said the sale and buying of human organs “violates human dignity and has no place in Islamic Shari’a law.”

But Islamic scholars have questioned the Taliban’s justification.

Abdul Saboor Abbasi, an Afghan Islamic scholar, says several contemporary rulings by leading Muslim jurists allow voluntary organ donations for transplants.

“The donor must be an adult and of sound mind,” he said. “And the recipient must benefit from the transplant.”

Written by Abubakar Siddique based on reporting by Firuza Azizi of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.