Individuals and organisations involved in the illegal trade of human blood will face stiff penalties under a proposed law.
The penalties include imprisonment for 10 years or a fine of Sh20 million or both, according to the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Bill.
The Bill, which is currently before the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) for pre-publication review, seeks to give the Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority (KTTA) autonomy to regulate blood donation, testing, processing, safeguarding, transfusion and quality control.
KTTA is the forerunner of the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service (KNBTS), which was established within the Ministry of Health by a gazette notice in 2020.
The lack of a legal framework for the blood transfusion service has compromised the safety, quality and availability of blood in the country, leaving loopholes for all sorts of illegal activities.
“A person shall not buy, sell or deal directly or indirectly in blood transfusion, any organ or tissue for a transplant, body parts for therapeutic purposes, medical education or scientific research unless otherwise provided by the regulations under this Act,” reads the draft Bill, sponsored by the Ministry of Health.
The transfusion of blood and blood products is a medical procedure used to treat patients with serious illnesses or emergencies that cannot be treated by other means.
As such, it is a life-saving and health-improving intervention and therefore an indispensable part of the country's healthcare system.
KTTA is mandated to collect, test, process and distribute blood and blood products to all transfusion hospitals in the country.
To curb illegal blood trade and ensure that the country's blood bank is adequately restocked, the Bill proposes a fine of Sh20 million and cancellation of the licence of any institution found guilty of contravening the law.
It will also be mandatory that consent is required for health services to be provided to a donor or recipient, unless the donor or recipient is incapable of giving informed consent.
In this case, a person giving such consent must be authorised in writing by the donor to give consent on his or her behalf or by court order.
The unscrupulous persons involved in the illegal trade shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding Sh10 million or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to both.
"Any person who knowingly receives an illicit transplant shall not be spared as they are now liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding Sh10 million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both," the Bill states.
The Bill comes after the Auditor-General's performance audit report revealed that blood transfusion services in the country were not being "effectively delivered", such as inadequate supply of blood to hospitals for transfusion, lack of inventory for efficient management of blood and blood products.
The draft law is an endorsement of the World Health Organization's (WHO) principles on human cell, tissue and organ transplantation.
“The WHO in its World Health Assembly in 2017 identified the need to interrogate the coordination of blood, blood products, other tissues and gametes to facilitate the comprehensive implementation of the Health Act of 2017 and align it with the WHO guiding principles,’ the Bill says.
The Bill comes as statistics from the KTTA show that the country collects about 150,000 to 200,000 units of blood from Kenyans annually, but much of it has become a hot commodity for regional criminal networks in the region.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are already investigating the involvement of Kenyan medical professionals in cases where blood donated by Kenyans is smuggled to Somalia and other countries in Africa where its market value is believed to be highest.
The illegal sale of blood comes at a time when the country, which needs between 500,000 and one million units of blood a year, continues to face blood shortages.
The registry will enable KTTA to establish and maintain a national list of individuals in need of organs, a national system to match organs and individuals on the list through the use of technology and per established medical criteria.
Minimal financial support from the government to the KTTA and dwindling donor funds have left the six regional blood transfusion centres and their satellite centres in a dire situation.
According to the Health Committee, the centres are in a dilapidated state, lacking sufficient staff and operational support (transport, reagents and other materials).
