By MELANIE AANYU

The Ministry of Health yesterday handed to the Parliament’s Health Committee for scrutiny, the Uganda Human Organ Donation and Transplant Bill, 2021, which among others, seeks to prohibit the sale and purchasing of body organs.

A copy of the Bill, which this newspaper has seen, indicates that a person who sells an organ commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life.
The only acceptable reward is the compensation for living donors of loss of earnings and any other justifiable expenses caused by removal or by related medical examination.

Payment is also acceptable for technical services related to organ removal in a regulated setting.
In the Bill, any person who gives or receives a reward for the supply of, or for an offer to supply a human organ, cell or tissue is liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand currency points (Shs2b) or 20 years in prison.

While presenting before the committee in Parliament yesterday, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health minister, said although the country is ready to start organ transplants, the absence of a legal framework is standing in the way.