Nigeria sets organ transplant rules to fight exploitation

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By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria launched comprehensive standards and guidelines for organ and tissue transplants on Thursday, aiming to regulate a sector plagued by ethical concerns and exploitation, its health minister said.

Despite medical expertise, Nigeria’s organ transplant system is hampered by donor shortages, cultural issues and weak laws that fuel ethical concerns and increase the risk of trafficking.

The new guidelines seek to establish transparency and adherence to international best practices in Africa’s most populous country. They explicitly prohibit organ sales.

Minister of State for Health Iziaq Adekunle Salako said the new framework encompassed kidney, liver, bone marrow, cornea, gamete and embryo donation, storage, and surrogacy.

“In recent times, we have witnessed troubling incidents and other excesses with organ transplantation,” said Jimoh Salaudeen, director of hospital services at the health ministry.

Such incidents, he said, usually involved “Nigerian victims from poor backgrounds who are targeted by criminal cartels, luring them with money or false promises of a better life”.

The guidelines will aim to build a system based on voluntary donation and transparent allocation, safeguarding vulnerable populations from exploitation, according to Salako.

(Reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Alex Richardson)