Story: News Desk

Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Nsiah Asare, has said that the Ministry of Health (MoH) has commenced processes to draft a law to regulate organ transplantation.

This follows calls from medical practitioners, including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah, for a legal framework for organ donation and harvesting.

Speaking to the media   on the sidelines of the opening session of the Africa Hepatopancreatobiliary cancer consortium conference in Accra, Dr. Nsiah Asare said the MoH had triggered processes to ensure the passage of an organ transplantation Act which will guide organ donation for transplantation.

“Transplants are very expensive. First we said, not only the cost of the operation but the cost of even the personnel, the training of the personnel, the things that you will use to do the operation and more importantly the donor organ. We as a country are yet to put the law in place for organ transplantation. This means that, for organ transplantation, the donor and the recipients who qualify for it, including the storage of the organ, are all combined [and will be captured in the law].”

“It will all be backed by law and I know that the Ministry of Health is working on it, and it will go to cabinet, and then we will have a very strong organ transplantation act,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Association for the Study of Liver and Digestive Diseases has bemoaned the increasing rate of liver cancer cases in the country, which is caused by hepatitis B.

The association therefore advised the public to get tested and vaccinated against hepatitis B.