A protracted investigation into the so-called ?doctors? case? and the fuss stirred by some of the media around it have prompted the doctors to hold a press conference. They accuse the law enforcement agencies of revealing the secret of investigation and blame the media for creating an unhealthy situation out of the issue of transplantology. It may damage the transplantology research and practice in Russia.

The Moscow city hospital No.20 was raided by people in masks on April 11th, 2003. A similar incident took place several hours later in the Moscow Coordination Center for Donor Organs. On May 23rd, 2003, the General Prosecutor?s Office admitted that the medical staff of the hospital No.20 were suspected of performing the illegal implantation of human organs.

?We should urge the law enforcement authorities to put an end to this matter as soon as possible,? said Lyudmila Shvetsova, First Deputy Mayor of Moscow, speaking at the press conference. ?Six months are more than enough to draw conclusions and punish those who?re guilty, bearing in mind all the witnesses and evidence. Otherwise the people should be cleared of any allegations. There?re dishonest people in the public health just like in anywhere else, but one shouldn?t put the blame on all the doctors.?

Lyudmila Shvetsova is confident that a well-orchestrated campaign against science progress and transplantology practice is picking up in the press.

?By some strange coincidence it happened at the time when the order of Ministry of Public Health was issued, it allows our patients to get hi-tech medical services abroad at the expense of the state if such kind of services is unavailable in this country. We have two parts of an obvious plot related to the breakup of our science and the necessity to seek medical attention abroad.

The charges for a transplantology operation are ten times lower in Russia. Since May this year 40 operations in transplantology have been carried out in Moscow. It?s about a half of what the doctors were able to do. In the mean time, more than 830 names are sitting on a waiting list.

?Those are the people from 18 to 50 year of age who have no other alternatives,? says Valery Chumakov, Director of the Research Clinic of Transplantology and Artificial Organs under the Ministry of Public Health Of Russia. ?Following a second wave in the press, operations have been suspended again. The condition of many patients awaiting an operation worsened a lot as a result, no chances left for them to see the day when transplants become available in the near future.?

?Last year in Moscow more than a thousand people died due to cranial injuries. Those are considered the potential donors, but eventually only 108 kidneys were transplanted,? says Andrei Seltsovski, Chief of Public Health Department of Moscow. ?Unfortunately, the law is not so perfect. But I do remember a period of time when there was no law at all. More than ten years ago. Our proposals have been already forwarded for consideration to the State Duma, hopefully, we?ll get adequate response.?

There?s presumption of consent stipulated by the Russian law. It allows the doctors to use organs of the diseased for the purpose of transplantation if a would-be dead man or his relatives didn?t raise an objection beforehand.

?For a few times now they?ve showed people fuming on TV because their relatives? organs had been taken for transplantation,? said Valery Chumakov. ?Spain has of the highest rates of the organ transplantation. Out there the government and health authorities work hard to explain to their citizens that an organ given for the transplantation is an act of humanity. You can even see the plates hanging at churches? gate that read ?Don?t take your organs to heavens. You won?t need them up there.? The Pope once said that donors follow suit of Christ who sacrificed his own life for the people. Please stop finishing off our transplantology.?