A new Bill before Parliament seeks to place Kenya’s blood donation, organ transplant and human tissue services under one powerful national authority.
The Kenya Blood, Cells, Tissues and Organs Bill proposes the creation of the Kenya Blood and Transplant Authority to regulate the sector and oversee services from blood collection and testing to organ retrieval, matching and transplantation.
The proposed authority would license and inspect facilities involved in blood and transplant services, including laboratories, tissue banks, testing facilities and organ retrieval centres.
It would also maintain national registers and databases of blood, cell, tissue and organ donors.
Under the Bill, the authority would coordinate donor recruitment, screening, counselling, testing, tissue typing, organ matching and allocation.
It would also have powers to investigate complaints and take action against facilities or individuals found to have breached the law.
The Bill states that one of its main objectives is to “ensure availability and accessibility of safe blood, cells, tissues and organs.”
The proposed law introduces stricter controls on organ donation and transplantation, including the creation of a national waiting list and a transparent system for allocating organs to patients.
It also sets out procedures for organ donation by living donors and deceased persons, including rules for determining death and retrieving organs from unclaimed bodies.
The Bill proposes to criminalise commercial dealings in human material intended for transplantation.
It also creates offences for retrieving human organs, cells or tissues without authorisation and carrying out transplants without informed written consent.
Consent under the proposed law would have to be voluntary, specific, informed and freely given by the donor, recipient, immediate family member or legal representative, depending on the circumstances.
The proposed framework comes as Kenya faces renewed scrutiny over the regulation of organ transplantation.
The Health Ministry has previously faced questions over oversight of the country’s transplant sector, while Parliament has investigated allegations surrounding kidney transplant practices at Mediheal Hospital.
The government has also been working to strengthen oversight of blood and transplant services.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale told the Senate in May that Kenya’s blood system operates under regulatory and quality assurance measures aimed at protecting patients and maintaining ethical standards.
If passed, the Bill would give the proposed authority a central role in deciding which facilities can offer blood and transplant services and how donors, recipients and human biological material are managed.
It would also give the Health Cabinet Secretary a role in policy matters relating to blood, blood products, cells, tissues and organs.
The Bill will now have to go through parliamentary scrutiny before it can become law.