Lawmaker seeks inquiry on organ donation program

MANILA, Philippines - Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez called for a congressional inquiry into the reported failure of the Philippine Organ Donation and Transplantation Program (PODTP) to oversee the implementation of the Philippine Network for Organ Sharing (PHILNOS) that he said has placed thousands of Filipinos in need of transplants in great danger.

Rodriguez and Abante Mindanao party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez filed House Resolution 2862 that seeks to summon Dr. Antonio Paraiso, program manager of the project, for reportedly failing to produce a manual of procedures including guidelines for accreditation, different committees, administrative staff and a function registry as embodied in Administrative Order No. 2010-0019 (National Program for Sharing of Organs from Deceased Donors), which established the PHILNOS.

The PHILNOS is tasked to implement a system of timely referral and processing of potential multiple organ donors, equitable allocation and efficient procurement and transplantation or organs from them, the lawmakers said, citing the order.

It is directed to increase awareness and acceptance of deceased organ donation and transplantation, increase the number of deceased donors, promote the ethical practice of deceased organ donation and transplantation, maintain a national waiting list of transplant candidates and a national registry of transplant patients, and make policy recommendations that may become the basis for legislation pertaining to deceased donation program.

“PHILNOS has technically been not in existence under Dr. Paraiso’s leadership as proven by his issuance of a memorandum on May 16, 2012 stating that the PODTP and the PHILNOS shall be implementing AO 2010-0019 in its original form and substance limited only by the fact that no funds were allocated to PHILNOS,” Rodriguez said.

He said a report of the Philippine Renal Disease Registry (PRDR) revealed that 10,000 Filipinos develop end-stage renal disease annually, half of whom were eligible for kidney transplant.

Out of the 5,000 patients with end-stage renal disease eligible for kidney transplant, less than 10 percent actually have a transplant because of insufficient organ supply or financial constraints, he said.

He said a PRDR report in 2009 showed that 95.5 percent or 639 out of 669 of the country’s kidney transplants came from living donors while 4.5 percent or 30 out of 669 came from deceased or brain-dead donors.

The same report added that 70 percent (448 donors) came from living non-related donors as compared to 30 percent (191 donors) which came from living related donors.

“When the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 were released on June 21, 2009 which stipulated clear sanctions for any person caught trafficking in persons for the sale or removal of organs, there was an exerted effort by the transplant community to focus on getting its main organ source from deceased or brain-dead donors,” Rodriguez said.

He said Paraiso allegedly attempted to amend the administrative order by stating that available funds from the PODTP will be used for its essential functions, licensing from the Bureau of Health Facilities and Services (BHFS) of the Department of Health (DOH) for stand-alone organ procurement organizations (OPOs) will be imposed, and the requirement and procedures for licensing were presently being prepared.

Rodriguez said Paraiso has apparently shown hostility toward the private OPOs’ public awareness and organ retrieval activities through releasing a memorandum addressed to all government hospitals on July 2012 declaring that the government’s own OPO, the Human Organ Preservation Effort (HOPE) based at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), is the only accredited OPO and the sole OPO allowed to procure organs from deceased donors.

Three private OPOs, namely the Integrated Program on Organ Donation (IPOD), the International Foundation for Organ Transplant, Inc. (InFORT) and Lifeshare, were created aside from the Human Organ Preservation Effort, a government-run OPO based at the NKTI, due to greater government restriction.

However, Rodriguez said, the private OPOs’ operations were often challenged by the lack of infrastructure to make the deceased donor program sustainable.