The Independent and Investigative Committee on Tissue and Organ Transplant Services is in Eldoret to collect the views of residents over possible malpractice and unethical violations of the processes leading to the surgical procedures.
Speaking during the commencement of the four-day public participation exercise on cell tissue and organ transplant services in Kenya, the Committee’s Chairperson Prof. Elizabeth Bukusi indicated that they were 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 was factored.
“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,” she said.
“And if there is adequate regulation and policy that enables these services to be offered appropriately for Kenyan citizens,” added prof. Bukusi.
She pointed out that they are going to be in Uasin Gishu for four days providing an opportunity for anybody who has any interest in this area to be able to provide information to the task force either in public or private.
Additionally, the committee is keen on providing privacy so that people can be able to make choices that allow them to say what they would want to say but within the privacy of making sure that they keep their identity secret from everybody else but only known to the individuals they are speaking to.
The Committee Chairperson said they 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 emphasized 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 the most in most countries are actually the eye “cold” corneal transplants, actually from people who are deceased and 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 you have donated, 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,” explained Prof. Bukusi.
Noting that there has been the process of drafting a law to regulate tissue transplant and organ, but it has not yet become law, Prof. Bukusi said their review is a very technical one within 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.
In his remarks, Senior Counsel Katwa Kigen who submitted comments on behalf of the Mediheal Group of Hospitals, confirmed their preparedness to cooperate with the committee to avail 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 their 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.
By Ekuwam Sylvester and Dorothy Chepkwemoi
