The President’s Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare has urged Ghanaians to learn how to donate parts of their bodies to help others in need of it.

This, according to him, can help in solving issues of kidney failure in the country.

He noted that it can also help to turn Ghana into a medical tourist centre in West Africa.

“People should also know how to donate parts of their bodies. You know we have two kidneys and normally we need out one kidney to carry out all the processes so you can easily donate,” he said.

He went on to say that, “To me, the most important thing is the eye. When anyone is about to die and your eye is good, you can remove your eyes and then donate the cornea to somebody because after all when you die, you close your eyes so when the eyes are not there, nobody would even notice.”

Mr Nsiah Asare made this comment while contributing to Kidney Health Matters on JoyNews on Thursday, October 5, 2023.

Asked what is being done about organ donation, the former Director General of Ghana Health Service said a law will be passed to that effect.

“There is a document which is being reviewed so that we have a law… so that we can harvest the organ, store the organ and also donate it. It is not only for kidneys,” he said. 

He also noted that the government is building the capacity of surgeons in that area.

He further challenged hospitals with renal dialysis units to buy essentials in bulk to save cost.

Dr. Asare also advised pharmaceutical companies to go into the manufacturing of consumables that will decrease the cost of dialysis.

In the past week, the conversation on dialysis treatment has been brought to the fore following the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital’s abortive 100% increment in the cost of dialysis treatment.

The hospital had blamed the removal of tax and import duty exemptions as the cause of the price hike.

According to KBTH, if the old charges are maintained, the dialysis facility would have to shut down in a matter of days.