A bill for a law to regulate human organs harvest and transplantation in Lagos State has scaled second reading, as the state assembly members move to criminalise illegal organ transplant.
The bill provides that a person who removes the organ of another person other than for therapeutic purposes commits an offence, liable on conviction to 10 years jail term without an option of fine.
The Chairman, House Committee on Health Services, Hon. Olusola Sokunle, described the bill as a legal framework to regulate the removal and transplant of organs from either living or dead persons to patients suffering from terminal organ failure.
He said the bill will help to curb illegal trading of human organs and ensure that persons suffering from organ failure have access to available organs while standard medical procedure for human organ harvest and transplant is followed.
The Speaker of the House, Rt (Hon) Mudashiru Obasa, said the bill will help those with terminal organ failure to live as there would be certified organ transplant for them.
He also stated that the bill will as well criminalise the act of using organs for ritual purposes as anyone found guilty will face the wrath of the law.
