Refusal of Liver Transplant Due to 'Suspicion of Afghan Nationality of Iranian Patient'

The newspaper Jahan San'at reported that at 'Khomeini Hospital' in Tehran, a necessary liver transplant was refused due to 'suspicion of the patient's Afghan nationality.' It stated that on Sunday, January 3, the surgery on a woman was halted because she did not possess an Iranian identification card. A relative of the family told Jahan San'at: 'We are from your border-dwelling compatriots and from Sistan and Baluchestan, and we have been living in Gonbad in Golestan province for several years. After enduring pain and liver issues for a long time, ten days ago we came to Tehran with the family to perform the liver transplant as advised by doctors at this hospital. All necessary tests and procedures were completed over these ten days, and the compatibility of our patient's body with the donated liver was confirmed. Now, on the day the surgery was supposed to take place, at the last moment, the surgeon refused to perform the transplant and returned our aunt from the operating room to the ward.' Family members of the unnamed woman stated: 'The only reason given by the doctor was the lack of an identification card for the patient and that, in their view, we are Afghan, while everyone knows that our ethnicity is from Iranian nomads and border dwellers, and this woman has been in Gonbad for about 35 years.' Amir Hossein Mir Asmaeili, a reporter for Jahan San'at, noted that 'the ward nurse cited the main reason for the doctor's refusal to operate and the jeopardy to the patient's life as the lack of an identification card.' He wrote that 'the patient's husband showed us documents and confirmations from forensic medicine proving his wife's Iranian nationality and provided evidence that their ancestors were also Iranian. He also had an Iranian certificate and mentioned that they are in the process of obtaining an Iranian identification card.' The newspaper reminded that 'according to the law, organ transplants between Iranian citizens and non-Iranians are not permitted,' stating that even with the promise of the head of Khomeini Hospital in Tehran to perform this operation by Tuesday and despite repeated tests, the transplant had not been carried out.