The Executive Yuan Council today green-lighted a draft amendment to various articles of the Human Organ Transplantation Act and will send it to the Legislature for deliberation.
The key points of the draft amendment are summarized as follows:
1. Common principles on live organ donation are revised, and regulations on kidney paired donation transplantation are added. Additionally, hospitals conducting living-donor liver transplantation are no longer required to obtain approval from the central government's competent authority. (Article 8)
2. Before removing any live organ, transplant surgeons shall notify the donor of which organ is to be transplanted as well as the identity of the recipient. These surgeons or hospitals also have the responsibility to periodically follow up on their donors' health conditions. (Article 9)
3. Relevant information about patients who have received transplanted organs abroad and are undertaking follow-up treatment at an ROC hospital must be reported to the government by the hospital. (Article 10)
4. Criminal liability is established for organ brokerage or sale, and associated penalty provisions are consolidated and revised as well. (Articles 16 through 18-1)
This was the second time the draft amendment was submitted to the Executive Yuan Council by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW). When it was first deliberated by the Cabinet during its November 14, 2013 meeting after approval by Executive Yuan Minister without Portfolio Chang San-cheng and relevant agencies, the MOHW stated that the proposed Article 10-1, Paragraph 6 required more consideration because it involved encouraging organ donation by certain prisoners.
Chang was then appointed to lead further discussion among the agencies, and the MOHW was directed to refer to international customs, practices and reasoning as well as ROC public opinion on organ donation by prisoners and explain its stances clearly before re-submitting the amendment to the Cabinet in the future.
Following extensive discussion among relevant agencies and groups as well as consultation of international statements, practices, and documents and Taiwanese citizens' opinions, the MOHW concluded that because organ donation by prisoners on death row entails medical, ethical and legal controversies, challenging practical requirements, as well as the sensitive subject of whether to abolish the death penalty, more public debate was needed before sufficient consensus could be reached and legislation written on this question. Hence, Article 10-1 will remain unchanged for the time being, the MOHW said.