Health specialists ask officials to speed up organ transplant rules
Health specialists in the organ transplant field yesterday asked the government to expedite regulations on organ transplants and subsidise the cost for patients.
At a World Transplant Day event held at Kenyatta National Hospital, donor patients and recipients interacted with specialists and shared their setbacks with representatives from the Health ministry.
A unanimous plea from patients and doctors to the government was to speed up the implementation of the 2017 Health Act that was to set up regulations on organ donations. This mandate was given to the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services (KNBTS) and Human Organs Transplantation.
If enacted, the law would allow people who wish to donate their organs to make a will or oral statement before witnesses and donate their body or specific organs to be used after their death either to save another person’s life or in medical institutions for learning.
Dr Nduku Kilonzo, director of the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services and Human Organs Transplantation, said yesterday that a task force working with the Health ministry is in place and is working on the regulations and ethical considerations that are likely to arise once the law is enacted.
“We have been working on a support framework on organ transplantation and we are looking to see to it that the Universal Health Coverage will have benefits and packages on transfusion and organ transplantation,” he said.
There is an array of organs that can be transplanted, such as liver, kidney, heart, cornea and even skin, but Kenya is not fully equipped to conduct some of these transplants.
Transplantation in Kenya should go beyond the kidney as it is the most common form of transplants, said Dr Kennedy Ondede, director of surgical services at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
But he noted that liver transplants are expensive.
“It costs about Sh4 million to about Sh7 million for just an actual transplant, devoid of the post-care and medication,” he said.
“We do not have an operational liver transplant service in the country and that means that people have to go abroad to get such services. NHIF should give transplants a priority and give a favourable amount of support to such patients.”
Cornea transplants, though cheaper, are a huge financial burden on patients too, said Dr Fredrick Korir, ophthalmologist and cornea surgeon.
“A cornea transplant is a lot easier compared to the other organs, and it costs about Sh400,000. This amount can go down if the country can invest in eye banks, since at the moment, we have few eye banks in the private sector and we depend on donors from the United States and America,” he said.
He also asked the Pharmacy and Poisons Board to help speed up clearance processes for corneas, which he said end up going bad at the port and cannot be used.
Bone marrow transplants, which help patients with blood cancer, are also not available in public facilities in Kenya.
Skilled manpower to handle such transplants is available in the country if hospitals have the necessary equipment and structures, said Prof Musibi Muthoni of KNH, who specialises in haematology.
“A bone marrow transplant is lifesaving like most of the other transplants. All we need is the establishment of the service and it requires the infrastructure which is not as elaborate as people may think,” he said.
“We already have the blood transfusion support from the ministry, we just need the political will to establish a centre and that needs funds.”
