CAIRO: Egypt has approved 9,600 requests for organ transplantation from 2009 to 2015, according to Deputy Minister of Health Sabry Ghonim.
Ghonim said that 38 medical institutes undertake transplanting operations in Egypt.
In 2010, Egypt passed a law regulating organ transplantation, allowing such operations between people of different nationalities only if they were spouses.
Egyptian doctors say that 1,500 illegal transplant operations take place annually, the donated organs mostly coming from poor people who urgently need money, the Integrated Regional Information Network News reported in July 2011.
Under the Egyptian law, organ trafficking is a crime punishable by long jail sentences and large fines. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a 2010 report saying that “Egypt is one of the five organ trafficking hotspots in the world” and described it as a “hub for organ trafficking.”