Ayodele Olalere
Illegal organ harvesters in Lagos State are to face 10-years in jail following the signing into law of the Human Organ and Tissue Transplantation bills by the Lagos State government.
According to the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro, while speaking at a briefing held at the Ministry of Justice in Alausa, Ikeja, the organ transplant law was aimed at protecting Lagosians from medical practitioners or individuals who connives with some syndicates to illegally harvest organs of patients for monetary gain.
The AGF said violators of the law could face up to 10-years in jail or N10million fine.
He noted that there have been several cases of victims of kidnapping whose organs were harvested by the kidnappers as well patients who had gone for medical treatments only for their organs to be harvested by the doctor.
“These laws are more than just legislative achievements; they represent our strong commitment to ensuring that Lagos remains a model of progress, justice, and opportunity in Nigeria.
“Our government’s focus has always been on meeting the immediate needs of our citizens, protecting their rights, and ensuring their safety, health, and prosperity,” Pedro said.
Pedro assured Lagosians that the law will combat illicit organ trade and unethical medical practices by some medical practitioners adding that the law will ‘protect individuals from exploitation and ensures that medical procedures follow the highest ethical standards.
It is recalled that in March 2024, a 51-year-old medical doctor, Christopher Otabor who was the owner of Alliance Hospital, was arraigned along three other doctors by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, before Justice Keziah Ogbonnaya of an Abuja High Court, for alleged organ (Kidney) harvesting of several of his patients.
He was charged for alleged involvement in several cases of organ harvesting following months of thorough investigation into his activities in the hospital.
Though granted bail, Otabor and the other defendants are currently facing trials before the court.
Also in September 2023, Plateau State Police Command arrested three medical doctors for their alleged involvement in organ harvesting in the state.
One of them, Noah Kekere, was arrested after he allegedly harvested a woman’s kidney during surgery.
According to the woman’s husband, Kamal, his wife had approached Kekere for a kidney surgery in 2018 after suffering chronic stomach pain for five years.
Kamal told the police that Kekere conducted a medical test on his wife and concluded that she had ruptured appendicitis and needed urgent surgery.
He however accused Kekere of removing his wife’s organ during surgery without her knowledge.