DOH chief assures Miriam: I won't change AO vs organ donation

After the deferment of his confirmation by the Commission on Appointments, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said Thursday that he has no intention of changing the administrative order banning kidney transplant and donation. The AO, issued by former Health chief Esperanza Cabral in June 2010, established a national program for organ donation from deceased donors, in response to the increasing organ trafficking problem in the country. It prohibits foreign patients from undergoing organ transplant in the Philippines and receiving organ donations from living non-related donors. In an interview with reporters, Ona said he does not intend to change or repeal the AO but only proposed to review it. On Wednesday, the bicameral body deferred the confirmation of Ona's nomination as health chief after Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she wanted Ona to clarify his position on kidney transplant and donation. Santiago pointed out the cases of organ trafficking in the country and said that many poor Filipinos who need money resort to selling their kidneys, unaware of the risks involved in doing so. Audience with appointments body On Thursday, Ona said: "'Yung AO, titingnan natin kung anong result nu'n for the next two years, then evaluate. She (Santiago) wants me to make a definite statement na hindi ko gagalawin 'yun or change it until such time that there is a law." "I hope I would be able to explain to her in more detail na hindi naman talaga gagalawin. Kung ginalaw ko, eh 'di noon pa (I hope I would be able to explain to her in more detail that I am not changing the AO. If I had intentions of changing it, I would have changed it already)," he added.

Ona said that the only time the AO will be changed is when legislators pass a bill on organ donation and transplantation. "Kailangan talaga mayroon na tayong organ donation and transplantation law. 'Yung mga areas na 'yun should be well-defined and clarified. Kung 'yon ay lalabas ay susundin natin whatever it says," he said. (We need an organ donation and transplantation law. Those areas should be well-defined and clarified. We will follow whatever it says when it is released.) Ona said he will try to seek an audience with the CA to clarify his position. He is scheduled for another hearing with the CA on February 9. Ban stays Before his appointment as secretary of the Department of Health (DOH), Ona was the director of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute and is known as one of the top kidney transplant surgeons in the country. In July 2010, a few weeks after his appointment as DOH secretary, he said in an interview with members of the media that he was considering a review of the ban on kidney transplants for foreigners. The statement received flak from the medical community and non-government organizations working with donors who sold their kidneys to foreigners. In an interview with GMANews.TV in September 2010, Ona said that he only proposed to review the ban's effect on patients who need transplants. "The ban stays there, [but] we will review kung ano ang effect noon sa mga pasyenteng nangangailangan. Kasi ang daming mga pasyente ngayon na nangangailangan ng transplant, hindi nakakatanggap, ganoon lang. Of course we don't encourage the so-called sale of organs or trafficking of organs." (The ban stays there, but we will review what the [ban's] effect has been on patients who need transplants. A lot of [foreign] patients who need transplants cannot be operated on. Of course we don't encourage the so-called sale of organs or trafficking of organs.) Review policy on organ donations The ban on living non-related organ donors was put in place to help curb cases of organ trafficking in the country, but the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) recently wrote to Ona urging the DOH to re-assess its policy on organ donations, especially its impact to patients who badly need a kidney transplant. "There are numerous patients in the country who are fighting for their lives, in a death row-like cue, waiting for this life saving procedure to be performed on them," PMA president Dr. Oscar Tinio said in a letter to Ona in December 2010. "Unfortunately, due to the current policy of the Department of Health to put a ban on non-directed donors, these patients will die without the needed organs to save them," he said. Tinio said the stringent government policy to limit organ donation only to related donors, deceased donors and directed non-related donors is aggravating the situation. "We acknowledge that abuses were committed in the past and we definitely condemn these unscrupulous acts. However, the fact remains today that there is not enough supply of donor organs that can save the lives of our patients," Tinio said. "As doctors, we took an oath to save lives. However in this case, we cannot save the lives of our patients not because we do not have the capability or the technology to do so, but because of a policy that our government chose to impose," he added. — RSJ, GMANews.TV