Staff Reporter :
Amputations and organ transplantation cannot be done without government’s permission at any hospitals in Bangladesh, except the public hospitals with specialised units.
The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 2017.
The regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet was held at the Cabinet Division of the Secretariat, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The proposed law also expanded the definition of ‘close relatives.’
“The amended law has had some revisions,” said Additional Cabinet Secretary Ashraf Shamim following the meeting. “Some new clauses have been added as well.”
Regarding the draft law, Ashraf Shamim said it would not allow any hospital to carry out organ transplantation or amputation without government approval. However, specialised units in government hospitals will remain out of the provision’s purview.
The law will allow organ transplantation within ‘close relatives’, he said, adding that the definition of relatives in this case will cover parents, children, siblings, couples and blood relatives.
However, eye and bone marrow transplantation will not require a blood-relative donor, the additional cabinet secretary said.
The draft law also aims to check the illegal trade of human organs with a provision for three years of rigorous imprisonment or Tk 10 lakh fine, or both.
The top official also said private hospitals have to apply to the authorities concerned to do the job within 60 days of enactment of the law.
As per the proposed law, there will be a medical board in every hospital for deciding any case of transplantation and a National Cadaveric Committee to oversee the human organs transplant in the country.
Organ donation is the donation of biological tissue or an organ of the human body from a living or dead person to a living recipient who needs transplantation.
In the name of organ donation, illegal trade has been going on in the country for over a decade.
Wealthy recipients and brokers trick the poor and illiterate people into selling their organs by making false promises like high prices and jobs and travelling to foreign countries.
