Govt to enact organ transplant law, says minister

Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Ummy Mwalimu

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Ms Mwalimu said although Muhimbili National Hospital had started transplanting kidney there was no law that regulated it.

Dar es Salaam. Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Ummy Mwalimu has said the government plans to enact an organ transplant law and warned people not to sell their organs.

Ms Mwalimu said although Muhimbili National Hospital had started transplanting kidney there was no law that regulated it.

According to her, the MNH is using only a policy announced in the Government Gazette on June 30, this year.

She was speaking a day after MNH doctors conducted the first kidney transplant. The minister added that the move would help reduce costs incurred by patients at overseas hospitals.

“Patients with kidney disease would pay between Sh80 and Sh100 million for transplant outside the country, while they can have it at Sh21 million,” she said.

For his part, MNH executive director Prof Lawrence Mseru said 60 per cent of the 200 patients with kidney related diseases at MNH require an operation.