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  • 2022-11-14 (xsd:date)
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  • Old kidney donation hoax resurfaces on social media in crisis-hit Sri Lanka (en)
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  • Sri Lankan social media users have repeatedly shared a false claim about a family of a deceased couple offering to donate their kidneys. The posts -- which have circulated online since at least 2017 -- list three fake phone numbers and urge people to share the message in order to help someone. A spokesperson at a government-owned hospital in crisis-hit Sri Lanka told AFP that organ donations cannot be arranged through social media, and should be initiated through a hospital. Dear all, very important: For kidneys are available, reads part of a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared here on November 6, 2022. The post goes on to say: Yesterday, Sudheer and his wife (my colleagues at work) passed away and the doctor has declared they are brain dead. Sudheer is B+ and his wife is O+. Their family wishes to donate their kidneys. So please share. Call 9837285283 / 9581544124 / 8977775312. Please share in another group. It would help someone. From, Uditha Uyangoda. The false post has been shared 30 times. Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on November 7, 2022 The same false claim was also shared elsewhere on Facebook here and here in November 2022, and here in December 2021. It was also shared on WhatsApp in the crisis-hit island nation, where an unprecedented economic crisis has dealt a body blow to a free and universal healthcare system that was once the envy of the country's South Asian neighbours. Organ donations A spokesperson for the organ transplant unit at the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital said organ donations in Sri Lanka must be arranged through a hospital, not through social media posts. There is a process to follow prior to a transplant including multiple screenings that the organ needs to undergo before being cleared for a transplant, the spokesperson told AFP. In cases such as those described in this post, the family must notify the hospital of their willingness to donate the organs and also provide their written consent. Once it has been established the organs are healthy and cleared for donations and transplants, they will be transplanted to compatible patients. Old hoax The three contact numbers listed in the false post are not Sri Lankan phone numbers. While Sri Lanka does use 10-digit phone numbers , these numbers always begin with a 0 followed by either a two-digit area code or a two-digit operator code for mobile phones. Attempts by AFP to call the numbers were unsuccessful; two of the numbers did not work and the third number gave a busy signal and did not ring. Searching for the numbers on Google led to earlier debunks by fact-checking organisations in India, including Boom Live here and Factly here . Indian English-language daily The Hindu also wrote about the false claim here in December 2019. Keyword searches on Twitter found similar English-language posts from India-based users dating back to at least 2017. Attempts to call the numbers from India were also unsuccessful, but one of the numbers was listed as having belonged to a Dr Sandeep Kumar Garg , a nephrologist based in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Dr Garg told AFP that the message is fake and has been circulating for almost nine years. (en)
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