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New law to stop unwanted human organ harvesting

By Nicholas Wassajja

In 2016 when New Vision reported that deceitful officials were targeting unsuspecting refugees for unsolicited human organ extraction, the story seemed too horrible to be true. However, it has since emerged that illicit clinics, corrupt doctors, including those at the Mulago National Referral Hospital and global networks, are dealing in the illegal human flesh and organ trade, which is worth billions of shillings annually.

Unfortunately, there is no specific law in Uganda prohibiting the sale of human body organs and governing human body parts transplant. Delivering the State of the Nation address last week, President Yoweri Museveni revealed that the Government was ready to table before Parliament the Uganda Human Organ Donation and Tissue Transplant Bill 2020.

The principles and objectives of the Bill were first approved by Cabinet in April 2017 to establish a legal framework for human organs, cell and tissue transplant. It is also intended to regulate donations and trade in human organs, cells and tissues as well as reduce government expenditure on referral abroad for organ transplants.

The state minister for primary , Joyce Moriku, said: “We have taken time to make the law as stringent as possible so it will have penalties against those that illegally trade in human organs. We want to make sure people abide by the law because this is a matter of life and death.”

She added that with the Government working around the clock to establish specialised hospitals, equip them as well as build human capacity to deal with organ and tissue transplant; what is left is enacting a law that regulates these procedures.

“As a result, we shall see a reduction in medical tourism to countries, such as India, where people spend a lot of money to have these procedures done,” Moriku said.

WHO GUIDELINES

Uganda currently follows the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines on human cell, tissue and organ transplants. WHO's guiding principles allow the harvesting of organs, cells and tissues with consent from only living donors, but not dead bodies.

The Minister for Information, ICT and National Guidance, Judith Nabakooba, told journalists early this month that the new law will prohibit harvesting of human tissues and organs from dead bodies.

The donations, according to the WHO guidelines, should be done without any monetary payment or other rewards of monetary value. The execution of such transplants must also be done in a transparent manner and subject to open scrutiny.

In some cases, New Vision reported that refugees are lured into accepting to sell their organs, specifi cally kidneys for as little as from sh300,000-sh500,000 to middlemen who export them for as much as sh10m.

It was then reported that the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA), was struggling to bring to perpetrators of the inhumane trade, who targeted the internal organs of two refugee girls aged 18 and 19 from Burundi.

Moriku said, if passed, the law will provide a legal framework for donations and transplants in the country and regulate the practice and trade in organs and tissues for the safety and security of Ugandans.

 

This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original location.

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EYES ON TRAFFICKING

This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original online location.

ABOUT PBJ LEARNING

PBJ Learning is a leading provider of online human trafficking training, focusing on awareness and prevention education. Their interactive Human Trafficking Essentials online course is used worldwide to educate professionals and individuals how to recognize human trafficking and how to respond to potential victims. Learn on any web browser (even your mobile phone) at any time.

More stories like this can be found in your PBJ Learning Knowledge Vault.