Following rising incidence of illicit trade in cell tissue and organ transplant in Kenya, the government has set up a team of experts to investigate the crime and identify legal loopholes hospitals and illegal organ traffickers are exploiting to endanger the lives of donors.

Ongoing investigations of Mediheal Group of Hospitals by parliamentary committee on health has so far found that donors are hoodwinked into making commitments without knowing the risks they are being exposed to.

Give high levels of public ignorance, the government has set up Independent and Investigative Committee on Tissue and Organ Transplant Services to collect views on possible malpractice and unethical violation of the processes leading to the surgical procedures.

Speaking during the commencement of the four-day public participation exercise in Eldoret on cell tissue and organ transplant services in Kenya, committee chair Elizabeth Bukusi said the team is  investigating allegations, reviewing the legal and ethical framework and auditing relevant documents to ensure the safety and rights of those involved in the entire process are factored in.

“To investigate all the services that are being offered within all health facilities in this country that provide tissue or organ transplantation and to determine if they are being done appropriately and at what standards and at what level. And if there is adequate regulation and policy that enables these services to be offered appropriately for Kenyan citizens,” Prof Bukusi said.

She pointed out that the committee would spend four days in Uasin Gishu provide an opportunity for anybody who has an interest in the issue to provide information to the taskforce either in public or privacy.

The chair said the committee is keen on providing privacy so that people can make choices that allow them to be open by keeping their identity secret from everybody else but only known to the individuals they are speaking to.

The committee chair said her team decided to spend four days in Uasin Gishu because some of the allegations that could be deemed inappropriate started there and the individuals came out to speak saying that the services that have been offered or the way in which these services had been procured might not be appropriate.

“That is why we are giving this county an appropriate time to ensure we can adequately capture information from anybody available to speak to us,” she noted.

Prof Bukusu emphasised that the committee is tasked with investigating transplants not just kidneys, but kidneys come to the fore because that is where the issue was raised. She further explained that transplants that happen in most countries are actually the eye ‘cold’ corneal transplants from dead people, who no longer need their eyes to see and have donated them to be used.

She explained the importance of the kidney transplant process unlike the eye one. The kidney procedure involves a donor who is alive and needs to remain alive and is willing to donate to somebody else so that the recipient’s own life can be extended.

“It is an important process because when you donate a kidney you need to understand what is going to happen to you after that; what are the risks that you will face if you only have one kidney, what are the things you need to take care of, you need to be very clearly aware of what choice you are making,” Prof Bukusi explained.

Noting that there has been the process of drafting a law to regulate tissue and organ transplant but it has not yet become law, Prof Bukusi said their review is a very technical one in the ministry of health to determine what is required from legislation to policy, guideline to practice and to standards.

She mentioned that they are visiting all facilities in the country that are offering tissue and organ transplant services to find out what they are doing and the standards to which they are doing it.

Senior Counsel Katwa Kigen who made submissions on behalf of the Mediheal Group of Hospitals, confirmed their preparedness to cooperate with the committee to make available all the materials the committee will require to certify on the propriety of all the transplants done by the hospital.

“In our appearance before the committee today, we confirm having delivered the document, our preparedness to supply any other document material required, preparedness to answer any questions that may come up in course of our work, on the position of Mediheal and their available legal provision documents in the kidney transplants,” he added.

He said that they are also ready to make input on the scope of the committee’s work and also to set up the form of legal framework, within which tissue and organ transplant services can be done in the country.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Ekuwam Sylvester and Dorothy Chepkwemoi

Chair of the Independent and Investigative Committee on Tissue and Organ Transplant Services, Prof Elizabeth Bukusi speaking during a public participation exercise on cell tissue and organ transplant services in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County,

Senior Counsel Katwa Kigen speaking in an interview during a public participation exercise on cell tissue and organ transplant services in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County. Photo by Ekuwam Sylvester.