KATHMANDU, JANUARY 20
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has announced that he will donate his organs after his death.
The PM made this announcement while addressing a special programme organised to mark the completion of 1,000 kidney transplants by Human Organ Transplant Centre (Shahid Dharma Bhakta Hospital) at Nepal Academy Hall, Kamaladi, today morning.
The prime minister said, "Dialysis services were not accessible to the general public. Because it was expensive, it was difficult for kidney patients with poor economic conditions to get the service. The centre also started free dialysis service from 29 March 2013 to help poor patients. At the centre, not only the kidney but also the liver is transplanted. It is our responsibility to make it more modern and effective."
PM Dahal also said that the capacity of Shahid Dharmabhakta National Transplantation Centre would be upgraded.
"Last time when I was the prime minister, I had declared to provide 99 ropani land to the transplant centre in Sallaghari. But the governments formed in the subsequent years did not implement my decision, now that I have again got the chance to serve as the PM, I will start the process to implement the decision," added the PM.
About 300 kidney transplants are done in Nepal every year. Of them, 200 transplant surgeries are carried out by the national transplantation centre alone. Talking about the contribution of the centre, PM Dahal said years back many Nepalis had to go abroad for kidney transplant spending millions of rupees, but now people get transplant service in the country at an affordable price.
Meanwhile, the prime minister also stressed the need of expanding transplant service across the country. The government is planning to set up transplant centre in all seven provinces.
He also pledged to do the needful to upgrade the centre into a National Institute of Transplant Science to produce required human resource for organ transplant surgeries in the country.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 21, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
