Gov't considers covering part of overseas organ transplant expenses

MUCH better to concentrate on getting more JAPANESE to donate than help fund people to go overseas & use donated organs that locals in that country cant use & may die because they were given to foreigners......

Utterly preposterous.

You should not need to travel overseas to get an organ transplant; and, unless there is an organ surplus, no country should ever be giving away organs to foreign recipients ahead of its own citizens.

How dare the MHLW propose funding transplant tourism in lieu of a domestic donor programme.

I can't give blood in Japan because they are afraid I might have mad cow disease. Yet they will pay for Japanese to go overseas and receive organ transplants. Besides, locals should get priority on the transplant lists.

I agree with the posters above. This must surely come under the category, All take and no give.

A friend of my fathers woke up in a bath of ice water minus a kidney in India. Libyan people smugglers also stealing organs. This doesn’t sound like a good idea, even if it can help people. People who earn $2 a day may have no choice if offered $1000.

Japan should change the law making all brain dead people automatically candidates as organ donors unless they have explicitly denied that. That's how it works in some European countries. Also transplants from alive donors should be encouraged more.

I must admit, it really bothers me on so many levels that Japanese feel it is ok to go abroad and receive an organ transplant when one isn't available here in Japan. Why do they think they are more deserving than a citizen of that country, even if they put their name on a waiting list, I don't feel they should be eligible. Also, as stated above, most foreigners can't donate blood as they fear we will contaminate the blood supply, but when it suits them then they have no problem receiving an organ from a foreigner. The final thing is that most people can't be bothered to educate themselves on organ donation or transplants and would rather outsource it to somebody else, and in some cases developing nations where $80000 will buy a lot of transplants.

A friend of my fathers woke up in a bath of ice water minus a kidney in India

No he didn't. These stories have been going around for years and none of them has ever been proven to be true.

If you need an organ to survive, then surely it isn't a question of who is 'more deserving' on account of where they live, or what colour their passport is. Not every potential donor is compatible with every potential recipient, so if you do find a good match then of course you're going go for it, regardless of the location. And the decision should surely be based on medical need and potential for success, not address.

As for 'they should encourage more donors at home'... they could do both. One is not exclusive of the other.

No he didn't. These stories have been going around for years and none of them has ever been proven to be true.

I've never met her, but also apart from Santa my father has never lied to me.

not one to trust NYT or Newsweek or ABC news, but...http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/world/asia/30kidney.html, http://www.newsweek.com/stolen-kidneys-india-86611

My brother died waiting for a kidney match in the States. I think this will only encourage more foreigners coming to the States for surgery at the expensive of the locals. Japan should use this money to encourage transplant donation by its own citizens.

Frenchosa.

Sorry, to hear that.

Organs from he donor need to match the recipient and the time window for a transplant can be very narrow(hours usually days are rare).

I would rather see organs get used rather than being wasted. And yes I carry a donor card.