Here’s why you can’t offer that kidney for sale

Dar es Salaam. The rise in cases of kidney complications in Tanzania is increasingly pushing some individuals to contemplate selling their kidneys as they seek a way out of financial hardship, The Citizen has learnt.

However, the law does not allow one to sell body organs.

Available data shows that Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) has in the past four years received a total of 36 individuals, who went to the facility to inquire about the possibility selling their kidneys to patients in need of transplants.

“We are not doing business. You can’t just come in, and offer a kidney for sale for whatever reason...it’s illegal,” said Dr Jonathan Mngumi, a specialist in internal medicine and kidney diseases at MNH.

He said it is true that there are people who go to MNH knowing that there are critically ill patients in need of kidney transplants, and offer to sell their organs.

“It’s important that people understand that’s illegal to sell body organs. If a patient requires a transplant, our procedure is that the organ must be donated by someone who is a blood relative,” Dr Mngumi said.

Law on transplants

He said while the government was working on a law to govern transplants, MNH was currently strictly adhering to its laid-down professional framework.

The framework requires that a donor go through a committee of experts who assess them before giving approval.

“This committee assesses if the donor is really a blood relative of the patient. It also assesses the closeness of the relation between the donor and the patient, and whether the donor is ready to offer an organ willingly. The committee also seeks to establish whether any arrangement for payment has been made. We do all this to protect people from being exploited,” Dr Mngumi said.

The social welfare officer at MNH’s kidney department, Halid Mahenga was recently quoted saying six people went to the hospital with kidney offers in January and February this year.

He said in 2021 alone the department received 27 inquiries from people who wanted to sell their kidneys, with most of them citing financial constraints as the reason for doing so.

Tanzania yesterday joined the rest of the global community in observing World Kidney Day, and the event was marked nationally in Coast Region under the theme “Bridge the Knowledge Gap to Better Kidney Care” with the aim of promoting awareness of preventive behaviour, risk factors, and how to live with a kidney disease.

Apart from transplants, patients with kidney diseases undergo regular dialysis, which is the process of removing waste products and extra fluid from the blood when the kidneys can no longer function properly.

According to a renal specialist at MNH, Dr Linda Ezekiel, Tanzania has between 5,800 to 8,400 patients who need dialysis as a result of kidney failure.

Afford treatment

However, she said only 2,750 are getting dialysis, with the rest being unable to afford the treatment.

“This disease is very serious, and its treatment is expensive. Although the government has so far reduced dialysis costs from Sh300,000 a session to Sh100,000, there are people who still can’t afford it because you need at least two to three sessions a week,” she said

According to specialists, diabetes and high blood pressure are key risk factors for kidney diseases, while other factors include prolonged use of traditional herbs, drugs and painkillers that are toxic to the kidney.

Dr Mngumi said MNH has seen a rise in the number of kidney patients in recent years, which he partly attributed to more awareness and expansion of kidney health care across the country.

“We used handle between 40 and 50 patients a day at the kidney clinic, but now we have between 80 to 90 people visiting daily,” he said.

The rise in the number of patients has come with its challenges, including limited manpower, as there are only 25 specialist doctors and 250 specialised nurses in the whole country.

Train specialists

Dr Mngumi said MNH had taken the initiative to train specialists, whereby there are now eight.

“We have four who are graduating soon, where one among those will remain here at MNH, and three will be posted upcountry,” he said.

Moreover, The Citizen has learnt that the government has set aside over Sh1 billion to procure 77 dialysis machines for 11 hospitals across the country.

A reduction in kidney treatment costs, training programmes for caregivers and digitisation of services to ensure that kidney health care is accessible to people throughout the country are among other measures being taken.