Facts

Parliament adopts law on organ transplantation

Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada has approved bill No. 2386a on introducing amendments to some legislative acts concerning the transplantation of organs and other human anatomical materials, which foresees a presumption of disagreement - removal of the organ for transplantation after death is possible only if the donor has given written consent

A total of 255 people's deputies voted for a respective decision on Thursday.

According to Olha Bohomolets, the head of the parliamentary committee on healthcare, any person who had previously given his or her consent to the collection of organs can at any time reject this in the event of a change in his or her decision.

Every adult able-bodied person can also identify his or her authorized person, who will make a respective decision to remove anatomical materials after death.

If a person did not express his or her will regarding consent or disagreement with organ transplantation and did not identify an authorized person, then permission for organ removal after death is requested from the spouse or close relatives of the deceased. In the absence of such people a transplant coordinator asks permission from the person who has committed to bury the deceased.

The unified state information transplantation system for the collection, registration and accumulation of relevant information, as well as for an objective and unbiased distribution of human anatomical materials and identification of donors and recipients, should be created before October 1, 2018.

It is also planned to create a central executive body that will implement the policy in the field of providing medical assistance with organ transplantation and performing activities related to organ transplantation.

According to the text of the bill prepared for voting, organ transplantation is used exclusively in cases when it is impossible to save life or restore health by other methods of treatment, which is established by a team of doctors.

The removal of anatomical materials from the deceased persons is prohibited if they were orphans, children deprived of parental care, and persons recognized as disabled. In addition, people who were not identified, or those who died as a result of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) and during other military operations related to national security of the country, cannot act as cadaver donors.

The list of persons who cannot be living donors includes those serving prison terms, foreigners and stateless persons illegally staying in Ukraine, people with severe mental disorders, patients with serious illnesses (which can be transmitted to the recipient or harm his health), pregnant women, as well as those who have previously provided the organ or part of it for transplantation.

The law enters into force on January 1, 2019, with the exception of the fourth paragraph of section 7, which prescribes the measures to be taken by the Cabinet of Ministers before the law comes into force. Since 2019, the current law on transplantation of organs and other human anatomical materials will lose its force.

As reported, draft law No. 2386a-1 was adopted at first reading on April 21, 2016.

In September 2017, the Health Ministry supported this bill, which was drafted by the parliamentary committee on health care, and also announced plans in 2018 to begin a pilot project for organ transplantation from an unrelated cadaver donor, for which the draft state budget foresees UAH 112 million.

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