Cabinet nods amendment to Organ Transplantation Act

The Cabinet has endorsed in principle the draft amendment to a law giving greater clarity to human organ transplant.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 29 June 2015, 03:09 PM
Updated : 29 June 2015, 03:15 PM

The amendment to the Organ Transplantation Act 1999 clearly defines organ transplant, specifies the way of the organ donation and transplantation, and determines eligibility of donors and receivers.
 
A Cabinet meeting on Monday presided over by the Prime Minister approved the draft of the Organ Transplantation Act 2015.
 
The law stipulates that no one other than a medical team can pronounce anyone as ‘brain dead’.
 
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters: “Human organs are now transplanted under Organ Transplantation Act 1999. Sometimes illegal organ transplantations have taken place despite the law.”
 
He said the High Court in 2011 had ordered the formulation of rules based on the law and their proper enforcement.
 
The health ministry formulated the rules but later took initiatives to amend the act based on suggestions from the law ministry.
 
Bhuiyan said the law provides for the formation of various committees including a transplant committee and a medical board for organ transplantation.
 
“There will be a medical board in every institution and no transplantation will be allowed without their certification,” he said.
 
The secretary said a lone doctor would not be able to pronounce anyone ‘brain dead’ while the patient was on life-support systems.

“It (the pronouncement) has to be made by a team comprising in-house doctors and those from the hospital where the patient is admitted,” he said.
 
Bhuiyan said there would be a coordinator in every hospital who would be in touch with relevant ministries and departments.
 
The coordinator must be informed in advance of any transplantation in the hospital, he added.
 
The secretary said transplantation database would be kept ‘confidential’ and beyond the jurisdiction of the ICT Act.
 
Giving false information is punishable, under the existing law, to three years in jail and Tk 500,000 as fine.