Great news on kidney transplant

The announcement by the Health ministry to start kidney transplant by January next year is great news. Even when it comes a year late after the initiative was first announced in 2017, it still remains a great move. Our earnest hope is that Mulago hospital, indeed, now has the requisite hi-tech equipment and team of experts, including nephrologists, physicians, surgeons, and nurses to carry out the numerous tests before conducting the transplants.

Our wish is well-founded because the project had been held off by delays in then ongoing renovation of Mulago, lack of both staff and state-of-the art equipment, which government says has now been installed. We also hope the memorandum of understanding between Mulago and Vashoda Hospital in India to bring in experts to run camps still stands as was announced by the Mulago Hospital executive director, Dr Byarugaba Baterana, in 2017.
And here’s why the kidney transplant at home is great news.

Currently, kidney cases constitute up to 20 per cent of referral cases at Mulago hospital, according to Dr Henry Mwebesa, the Director General of Health Services. And by April 2017, Mulago had a total of 110 patients on dialysis treatment, which substitutes the normal functioning of their kidneys.

Worse, 90 of these patients required kidney transplant abroad, with each case eating up nearly Shs148m. To lighten this burden, Ugandans have relied on public support to raise funds to finance lifesaving operations outside the country. But from January next year, this procedure would be cut down to only about Shs18.5m, according to Health Permanent Secretary Dr Diana Atwine.

The greatest hurdle to this big leap forward is the absence of an enabling law to facilitate kidney transplant in the country. For now, the enabling law or the organ and tissue transplant Bill, which would allow the process of organ and tissue transplantation and donation to be conducted in the country, is still in the draft stage. This means that without the law, even Mulago’s readiness to start carrying out kidney transplants by New Year would be rendered useless.

What the country needs urgently is that the resolve by Mulago should be matched by an equally quick action from the Cabinet, Parliament, and Presidential assent to the Organ and Human Transplantation Bill. Once in place, this should then enable the all-necessary regulation of the organ transplantation, donation, harvesting and or importation.

Our kidney patients need help and all should be done and quickly too so they can regain the hope to live a near normal life again.