Cornea transplants: We need legislation to deal with people who flout our regulations - Dr. Dziffa Ofori-Adjei

The President of the Ophthalmological Society of Ghana, Dr. Dziffa Ofori-Adjei, has called for legislation on cornea transplants in Ghana so that it can deal with persons who flout the medical protocols by buying, instead of donating cornea.

Dr. Dziffa Ofori-Atta said that cornea is supposed to be donated, hence purchasing it breaches the regulations of the health protocols in the country.

She also indicated that for the cornea to be harvested, one should seek permission from the family of the deceased person before going ahead.

Speaking in an interview with Daniel Oduro, host of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV, the President of the Ophthalmological Society of Ghana asserted that the legislation of cornea will aid to get people who breach laws regarding cornea dealt with by the law.

“We understand that you cannot go and catch someone and bring the person. For us to harvest the person's cornea, you have to have consent, the person must be dead. Otherwise, you have people selling people just to harvest their organs.

"So that legislation must be there so that if someone falls foul of the law, that person will be dealt with. So that these things, we can have a clear way to now donate the organs and then go ahead and then do the transplant,” she said.

Dr. Dziffa Ofori-Atta further indicated that legislating cornea transplants in the country helps them to make it more affordable and avoid incurring costs for transporting it [cornea] from the United States of America.

“If we're getting the cornea from the US, you talked about the distance, it cannot come on a ship, it must come by flight and it has to come by a cold chain. And the longer the cornea stays, the lower the viability.

"So if you donate it here and you can transplant it here today, it's better than something that has been donated over there a week ago. Then you have to transport it here. You need FDA approval, you need to pay for carrier charges.

“So, those are the processing fees that the patients pay. But if we are doing it here and people are donating willingly, then the processing fee doesn't become that much. It is something that will be affordable for everybody so that we are not needlessly blind from cornea disease,” she noted.




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