Egyptian doctors’ union prohibits transplants between Muslims and Christians

Cairo, Egypt, Aug 22, 2008 / 08:42 am

The Doctors’ Union of Egypt, led by the “Muslim Brothers,” a extreme faction of Islam, has decided to prohibit the transplant of organs between those who profess the Islamic faith and Christians, generating a series of protests and unrest in both communities.

According to the EFE news agency, a spokesman for the Coptic Church said in response to the decision, “We all have the same Egyptian blood, and if the purpose of the measure is to prohibit the traffic of organs, we reject it because that could occur as well among the faithful of the same religion.”

The spokesman said the union’s decision was “very grave,” since it could lead to other steps such as the prohibition of blood donations between Christians and Muslims or prevent a doctor from examining a patient of a different faith.  “We fear that in the future there will be hospitals for Christians and hospitals for Muslims,” he said.

The director of the union, Hamdi El Sayed, said the new norm aims “to protect poor Muslim from rich Christians who buy their organs and vice versa” and “to prevent any attempt to deceive the infirm and rob them of their organs, especially if this occurs between Christians and Muslims, because in this case it does open the door to a crisis between both communities.”

Abel Moti Bayumi, an expert with the Center for Islamic Studies of Al Azhar, said the norm is “discriminatory, since it violates human rights, the Constitution and national unity.”  “If the union does not annul the decision, there will be more conflicts between Christians and Muslims,” he warned.