§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what controls or monitoring his Department exercises over the origins of human organs imported into the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. John PattenThe United Kingdom transplant service (UKTS) participates in a number of international schemes for the exchange of cadaver kidneys for transplantation, principally in order to meet the needs of the small number of NHS patients who are able to receive only an almost identically matched kidney or who are of a rare blood group. A number of cadaver kidneys are also imported from the United States for transplantation into private patients; private hospitals are not obliged to make importation arrangements through UKTS, bu do so in most cases. All foreign agencies involved in these exchanges are reputable non-profit-making organisations. Some cadaver hearts and livers are also imported for transplantation in NHS hospitals, and arrangements may be made either through UKTS or directly between the medical staff of the donor and recipient hospitals. UKTS 331W maintains full information on the origins of all organs for which it makes the importation arrangements and we would expect similar information to be maintained in every instance by the recipient hospital.