§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has regarding the import of human organs into the United Kingdom for use in private and National Health Service hospitals; and what were the countries of origin.
§ Mr. John Patten[pursuant to his reply, 27 January 1984, c. 720]: The United Kingdom transplant service participates in various international schemes for the exchange of human organs for transplantation, principally for a small number of selected kidney patients who can accept only an almost identically matched organ or who have a rare blood grouping. The main agencies are 350W Eurotransplant, covering Austria, Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, Francetransplant and Skandiatransplant, covering Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. During 1983, three kidneys were imported for Eurotransplant and three from Skandiatransplant. These arrangements apply only to National Health Service patients.
Information about arrangements made privately to import organs is not usually available to the Department. I should, however, like to add to my answer to the hon. Member of 20 January, that my Department has since been informed of three kidneys, which had originally been imported in 1983 under private arrangements but were used for NHS patients.