Central body for organ donations proposed

MANILA, Philippines - Lawmakers are pushing for the creation of an agency, which shall facilitate a national system promoting organ donation from both deceased and living donors.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez filed House Bill 5390 establishing the Philippine Network for Organ Sharing Corp. (PHILNOS) that shall serve as the central coordinating body for all deceased organ donation and transplantation activities in the country.

Rodriguez said the 2008 Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism “strongly encourages governments, in collaboration with health care institutions, professional and non-governmental organizations to take appropriate action to increase deceased organ donation, remove obstacles and disincentives to deceased organ donation, enact legislation and create transplantation infrastructure so as to fulfill each country’s deceased donor potential.”

“Tackling the issue of human organ and tissue transplantation in the 63rd World Health Assembly, it was reported that experiences in countries with the most successful deceased donor programs have shown the advantages of having strong national organizations that can stimulate, coordinate and regulate donations and transplantations,” Rodriguez said.

He said such organizations should inform the public about the importance of sustaining a community resource built on voluntary, unpaid donation of organs, tissues and cells rather than on the exploitation inherent in organ purchases and the provisions of equitable access to all.

Abante Mindanao Rep. Maximo Rodriguez, co-author of the measure, said transplantation has prolonged and improved the quality of life of patients in need of organ replacement.

He said the traditional source of organ grafts has always been the deceased donors but the perennial lack of deceased organ donors has continually hampered the widespread application of transplantation.

“The imbalance of supply and demand has created the need to resort to other sources of grafts, such as living donors. Organ donation from living donors, albeit a noble act of charity, has been beset by numerous ethical issues. It has unfortunately lent itself to abuse and has been tainted with commercialism in many areas of the world and oftentimes has been associated with human trafficking,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said the Department of Health (DOH) attempted to address the situation on June 23, 2010 by establishing mechanisms to curtail organ sale and protect the living kidney donor through Administrative Order No. 2002-0124 and AO No. 2008-0004-A.

“Despite the enactment of the Organ Donation Act of 1991 and the subsequent issuance of administrative orders, the potential of the use of deceased donors has yet to be fully utilized,” Rodriguez said.

“The potential of deceased organ donors is yet to be maximized in our country where the estimated number of deaths due to accidents is about 8,000 per year according to the ADB-ASEAN Regional Road Safety Program Accident Costing AC7 Report: Philippines,” the lawmaker said.

Rodriguez said the bill is necessary to institutionalize the development of a national system of promoting organ donation from deceased donors and sharing of grafts through the PHILNOS that shall implement a system of timely referral and processing of potential multiple organ donors, uphold equitable allocation, efficient procurement and transplantation of organs from deceased donors.

Under the measure to be known as the “National Program for Sharing Organs from Deceased Donors and Regulation of Human Organs Donation and Transplantation from Living Donors Act,” or the “Organ Donation Act of 2011,” the PHILNOS shall manage the national living and deceased donor program, ensuring effectiveness, efficiency, equity and transparency in the national system of allocation of deceased organs.

PHILNOS shall initiate and implement programs that will increase awareness and acceptance of deceased organ donation and transplantation and that will increase the number of organs from deceased donors for transplantation.

It shall formulate and implement the policies that will promote the ethical practice of living and deceased organ donation and transplantation and supervise all functions of organ procurement organizations.

All government and private hospitals, health facilities, organ procurement organizations, medical and allied medical professionals, foundations, non-government organizations and other government units that are involved or have relevant roles in organ transplantation in the Philippines are covered under the proposed Act.