The Uganda Human Organ Donation and Transplant Bill, 2021 imposes heavy fines for individuals trafficking or selling body organs.
Health Minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, tabled the bill on Tuesday, 05 July 2022 during plenary.
The bill seeks to regulate organ and tissue donation and transplant in Uganda under the Uganda Organ and Transplant Council, and Mulago National Referral Hospital as the pioneering transplant center.
The Council shall be persons of high moral character and proven integrity who are qualified in and have had experience and shown capacity in surgery, internal medicine, anesthesiology, bioethics, diagnostics, radiology, health sciences, law, the management or financial management.
The bill seeks to legally regulate organ, cell and tissue donation and transplantation.
“The object of this Bill is to establish a legal framework for the regulation of organ, cell, and tissue donation and transplantation in Uganda. The law aims at protecting the dignity and identity of every person and guarantees, without discrimination, respect for his or her integrity and other rights and fundamental freedoms with regard to donation and transplantation of organs, tissues, and cells of human origin,” reads part of the Bill.
As part of the penalties, a person commits an offense when he or she gives or receives a reward for the supply of a human organ, offers to supply any human organ, and others.
On conviction, a culprit pays a fine not exceeding 2 billion Shillings (100,000 currency points) or imprisonment not exceeding 20 years or both.
The same penalty of 2 billion Shillings or 12 years imprisonment is proposed for trading and trafficking in human organs.
It is the same proposal for a person who renders his or her services to any hospital and for purposes of the removal of any human organ without authority.
It also seeks to prohibit non-authorized health facilities from engaging in organ transplants.
"Any hospital, unless designated as a transplant center is also prohibited to conduct, associate with or assist in the removal, storage, or transplantation of any human organ, tissue, or cell," reads the bill.
Where a person convicted is a registered health practitioner, their name will also be removed from the register of the Council for a period of 10 years for the first offense and permanently for a subsequent offense.
It also prohibits a person from performing a transplantation activity without the prior authorization of the Council. A person who contravenes this provision commits an offense and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand currency points (1 billion Shillings) or imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or both.
The proposed law also requires a person and the designated transplant center that performs a transplant to not later than 24 hours after the transplant procedure; to submit a report to the Council.
The government also proposes that all living organ donors shall be registered and offered life-long follow-up, where required and the donation of organs from living donors shall not take place without the prior authorization of the Council.
“A person who transplants an organ from a living donor without prior authorization of the Council commits an offense and is liable, on conviction to a line not exceeding 1 billion Shillings or imprisonment not exceeding 12 years or both,” reads the proposed law.
Furthermore, the Bill prohibits the Council from authorizing the removal of an organ from a dead person where the Council has reason to believe that the person's death is suspicious and may require police investigations.
According to the health minister, the bill will also prescribe appropriate consent to be given by donors and establish and maintain a national waiting list for potential organ, tissue and cell donors and recipients, drawn from designated transplant centers and other hospitals and health centers.
The Speaker referred the bill to the Committee on Health for scrutiny and report back within 45 days