U.S. Copts Association

Dear Mr Meunier,
my name is Tiago Villanueva, and I GP registrar and medical journalist
based in Portugal . I am currently writing a news story for next
week’s edition of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) regarding the
controversial proposed organ transplant law in Egypt.

This law, following an article in the newspaper Daily News Egypt of 18
August, aims to ” regulate organ donations and transplants limits the
practice to family members and bans it between people of different
religions or different nationalities. Head of the Doctors’ Syndicate
Hamdy El Sayed said that, under the draft law, it’s not possible for a
Copt to donate organs to a Muslim and vice versa simply because
donations have been restricted to family members up to the fourth
degree, and has refuted  claims made by human rights activists that
the proposed organ transplant law discriminates between Muslims and
Christians. Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Human Rights Union,
said: It’s a racist law that calls for discrimination and it
discriminates between the Coptic Christians and the Muslim donors and
made it less likely for sick patients to get their organ transplants.”
(full story on http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=15833)I was thus wondering if it would please be possible to ask you if you
are aware of this issue, and if you knew where I can find the official
statement (with internet link) by the Egyptian Medical Association or
the relevant body in Egypt which has issued the organ transplant law
proposal, and the justification as to this decision has been made.
I would be very grateful for any help on this issue.
Many thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,

Tiago Villanueva