Dialysis patients want Transplant Bill implemented

The Renal Support Group (RSG) is concerned about the delay in implementing Act No 13 2000 — The Human Tissue Transplant Bill — the legal framework for  the transplantation of tissue from live donors and cadavers. It was piloted by former Health Minister in the United National Congress, Dr Hamza Rafeeq, and assented by Parliament in June 2000. The Act is yet to take effect because regulations have not been finalised by the Health Ministry. These will serve as “checks and balances for the movement of organs, administering of transplant procedures and programmes and determine the criteria for what constitutes someone being brain dead,” said former Junior Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan. He said it is taking too long for the regulations to be prepared. “Although the Act was proclaimed in 2000, it never came into operation, mainly because the powers that be never really pushed it,” said Eddie Reid, Chairman of the Education Committee of the RSG yesterday. Reid said there is tremendous need for the Act because people with kidney failure have three options—dialysis, kidney transplant and death. “What the Act does for us is facilitate the transplantation of kidneys. People in TT can become donors, people like us with kidney disease could get transplants.”

Many people requiring surgery are undergoing expensive dialysis treatment. Reid said dialysis is never intended to be a long-term arrangement. Dialysis costs approximately $900 for each session and some people need two or three treatments weekly. If it is done twice weekly, it can cost up to $93,000 annually or $140,000 annually for three weekly sessions. “By the time Government does what it has to do, we would have run out of money to do the transplant,” Reid said. The surgery can cost between $70,000-80,000 or more should complications develop. Many people cannot afford dialysis. “What is happening to them? Many people are dying.” The Transplant Bill is a sign of hope and chance to live. Reid said renal disease is not just for elderly people. The young productive population is affected and this is a loss to the country. A survey done by the RSG found that over 900 people have chronic renal failure. “Their kidney function has deteriorated to the point where they cannot sustain life without dialysis or a transplant.” He said a donor programme is very important for TT, and the country needed to get to “that well-organised stage” as the John Hopkins Centre in the US where a historic triple swap kidney surgery was done involving donors unrelated to recipients. Health Minister Colm Imbert could not be reached for comment on the status of regulations.