FG to Launch Organ Transplantation Policy
The federal government has concluded plans to launch a national policy on organ transplantation next month.
Daju Kachollom, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, made the disclosure during a stakeholder meeting in Abuja on guidelines for organ donation and transplantation.
The meeting was organised by the National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee NTHISC alongside other partners.
Dr Jimoh Salaudeen, Director of Hospital Services, who represented Kachollom, explained that the ministry has established the NTHISC committee to create guidelines addressing irregularities and criminal exploitation in organ donation and transplantation in Nigeria.
She explained, "The draft guidelines are currently under validation and will proceed to ministerial and presidential approval before becoming official policy."
She added that monitoring to ensure compliance with the policy is expected to begin about two months after its launch.
Prof. Philip Olayele Abiodun, The NTHISC chairman, Prof Philip Olayele Abiodun, explained that the draft of Nigeria's first organ donation and transplantation guidelines covers critical areas like ethical standards, kidney and liver transplants, eye and tissue transplantation, bone marrow transplantation, and a chapter addressing gamete and embryo donation, storage, and surrogacy.
The chairman of the NTHISC kidney committee, Prof. Jacob Awobusuyi, stated that efforts are ongoing to regulate private health facilities to prevent unethical practices in kidney donation and transplantation
