FG to launch organ transplantation policy next month

The federal government is set to launch a national policy on organ transplantation next month. 

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Daju Kachollom, stated this 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.

Represented by Dr Jimoh Salaudeen, Director of Hospital Services, 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. 

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She noted that the draft guidelines are currently under validation and will proceed to ministerial and presidential approval before becoming official policy. 

Monitoring to ensure compliance with the policy is expected to begin about two months after its launch, she added. 

Prof. Philip Olayele Abiodun, NTHISC chairman, said the draft of Nigeria’s first organ donation and transplantation guidelines covers critical areas, including ethical standards, kidney and liver transplants, eye and tissue transplantation, bone marrow transplantation, and a chapter addressing gamete and embryo donation, storage, and surrogacy.

Prof. Jacob Awobusuyi, chairman of the NTHISC kidney committee, said efforts are ongoing to regulate private health facilities to prevent unethical practices in kidney donation and transplantation.