Islamabad, Jan. 28: Following in India’s footsteps, Pakistan plans to enact a law which will curb the illegal practice of selling and buying kidneys.

Thousands of kidneys are sold every year in several Pakistani hospitals due to the absence of a law barring the sale of human organs.

“We have to stop exploitation of the poor and to achieve this important objective, we are working on a comprehensive law that will award stringent punishments to all those who entice the poor into selling kidneys,” health minister Naseer Khan said in Islamabad.