TOLOnews.com, August 21, 2016

Afghan Girl Dies In Iran Because Of Transplant Law

According to Latifa's father, the hospital refused to do the procedure because they were illegal immigrants and could not afford the costs involved as private patients

Latifa Rahmani, a 12-year-old Afghan immigrant died in an Iranian hospital on Friday afternoon after being denied the opportunity to undergo liver transplant surgery.

Latifa died in the Namazi Hospital in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz from liver failure, Iran media reported.

Latifa Rahmani, a 12-year-old Afghan immigrant died in an Iranian hospital on Friday afternoon after being denied the opportunity to undergo liver transplant surgery. (Photo: TOLOnews.com)

The girl had not been able to get a new liver because Iran bans such surgery for illegal immigrants, Iran Front Page reported.

According to Latifa's father, the hospital refused to do the procedure because they were illegal immigrants and could not afford the costs involved as private patients.

Officials at the hospital however said that the child had been in desperate need of a liver transplant when she came in but that there had not been enough time to carry out the required tests.

They noted that the country's rules, as in many other countries, do not allow the transplant of body organs from dead bodies of Iranians to living bodies of foreign nationals.

But Mohammad Hossein Qorbani, the deputy chairman of Iranian Parliament's Health Commission, underlined the need for a revision in the ban on the transplant of body organs to foreign nationals.

"Wherever people's lives are in danger, we should not deprive them of medical services because of their foreign nationality. We should also take into account the humanitarian aspect of the issue," Qorbani said.

He said that parliament is ready to revise the law that bans the transplant of body organs to foreign nationals.

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