Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, the President's Advisor on Health, has urged Ghanaians to consider organ donation as a means to address the issue of kidney failure in the country.
Dr. Nsiah highlighted the potential for the country to become a medical tourism hub in West Africa by offering advanced organ transplant procedures.
"People should also know how to donate parts of their bodies. You know we have two kidneys, and normally we need only one kidney to carry out all the processes, so you can easily donate," myjoyonline.com quoted him to have said in an interview on Joy News.
Dr. Nsiah Asare pointed out the significance of eye donations as well. He explained that even in the event of a person's passing, their corneas can be donated to help restore vision in someone else.
"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."
He continued "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."
Addressing the issue of the rising costs of dialysis treatment, Dr. Asare encouraged hospitals with renal dialysis units to purchase essential supplies in bulk to reduce expenses.
He also urged pharmaceutical companies to consider manufacturing consumables that would help decrease the overall cost of dialysis.
AM/SARA
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Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.
You can also watch the latest episode of Everyday People on GhanaWeb TV below:
Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare