BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – Persons who buy or sell human organs will be imprisoned for 20 years and fined P2 million, under Cong. Girdgidi Aggabao’s House Bill 4440 or the “Organ Donation Act of 2014.”
The bill seeks to address the decreasing number of kidney transplant recipients.
In 2008, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) had 368 recipients of transplanted kidneys. The number dropped to 238 last year.
NKTI said a total of 679 patients underwent kidney transplant in 2008 nationwide. Four years later, only 348 had the operation.
Aggabao blamed the lack of organ donors for the declining number of kidney transplant recipients.
He said his bill will strengthen the country’s Organ Donation Program.
“Regulated systems that remove disincentives on organ donation and afford incentives to donors simultaneously with a strong information and education drive on organ donation awareness are deemed solutions to increase organ donation,” Aggabao said.
Under his bill, any employer who discriminates against any individual by reason of his being an organ donor shall be punished with a penalty of imprisonment for six months to four years and a fine not exceeding P10,000.
His/her license will also be removed.
“More organ donors would mean more lives would be saved and significant savings for the government on costs spent on expensive dialysis, which has shorter survival rate compared to a transplant,” Aggabao said./PN
