NKTI eyes amendments to Organ Donation Law
THE National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) on Saturday said it is holding consultations with Congress and the Department of Health (DoH) on the possible amendments to Republic Act 7170 (RA), or the “Organ Donation Act,” and other related policies amid THE SIGNIfiCANT SHORTAGE OF DONORS IN THE COUNTRY.
In a weekly news forum in Quezon City on Saturday, NKTI chief transplant coordinator Peter Paul Plegaria said that becoming a living donor is more of an “altruistic act,” considering that the sale of organs is prohibited.
“That is what our law allows. And we [have] ongoing communication with the Congress and the DoH about the amendment of RA 7170, our DoH Administrative Order,” he added.
The sale of internal organs in the Philippines is prohibited as RA 7170 only authorizes the donation of all or a part of a human body after death for specified purposes.
Plegaria encouraged Filipinos to be organ donors and support government programs on deceased organ donation to address the shortage of donors and improve the quality of life for patients suffering from renal ailments and other diseases.
He said that living relatives of patients up to fourth degree of consanguinity are qualified to donate their organs.
The NKTI is promoting the Deceased Organ Donation Program in coordination with trauma hospitals and health care facilities, Plegaria said.
He said only 367 potential donors have so far registered since the NKTI launched the Organ Donor Card last year.
Plegaria said one Filipino develops chronic kidney failure every hour or about 120 Filipinos per million population every year.
Chronic kidney disease is one of the leading causes of illness and death in the Philippines, with latest reports showing that about 2.3 million Filipinos have the disease.
Currently, there are 38 transplant centers in the Philippines, with around 10 government hospitals and 27 private hospitals doing transplantations, Plegaria said.
He said the NKTI is capacitating DoH-run hospitals nationwide to become kidney transplant centers.
“We still have regions in the Philippines that have no transplant centers,” he said, citing Cagayan Valley, Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Zamboanga Peninsula, Soccsksargen, Caraga and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Meanwhile, NKTI Public Health Unit head Maria Angeles Marbella said there was an increase of 8,000 hemodialysis patients from 2023 to 2024, higher than the estimated 2,000 to 3,000 reported in the past years.
She said the latest figure is “roughly a 15-percent incidence of new cases of chronic kidney disease [patients] needing renal replacement therapy.” “They are those who need to undergo hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and eventually, kidney transplantation,” Marbella said.