The East African Kidney Institute is seeking parliamentary approval to activate Kenya’s human body organ donor laws —the final step before launching the country's first national organ and tissue donation programme.
Once approved, the programme will enable structured and legally regulated human organ and tissue donations under a national framework.
Peter Mungai, the director of the institute, told the Business Daily that, although Kenya has a legal framework for organ donation, it is not currently being implemented.
“The law exists. What we’re waiting for is operationalisation. Once that happens, we can fully implement the donor programme,” he said. Once approved, the programme will lead to broader organ donation initiatives, particularly focusing on kidney care and expanding access to life-saving transplants.
The donor framework will also enable Kenya to consider launching a deceased donor programme, which could increase the availability of kidneys for transplant and reduce reliance on live donors —currently, a bottleneck that limits transplant access for many patients.
Kenya's main legislation on donor donations is the Health Act of 2017, which establishes the legal framework for the removal, use, and transplantation of human organs and tissues.
It prohibits commercial transactions involving organs and criminalises their sale. It also allows individuals to include organ donation instructions in their Wills and empowers next of kin to make donation decisions if the deceased did not specify their wishes.
The Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority was also established under Legal Notice No. 142 of 2022 to support the implementation of the Health Act. The agency is responsible for regulating and licensing transplant services, maintaining a registry of donors and recipients, and coordinating the ethical allocation and matching of donated organs.
Individuals who violate the Act's provisions face a fine of Sh10 million or imprisonment for up to 10 years.
The institute is a collaborative initiative governed by the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta National Hospital, and the Kenya Medical Training College. It will be Kenya's first highly specialised referral hospital dedicated exclusively to kidney and urinary tract conditions.
The institute is expected to serve as a regional hub for nephrology and urology, performing up to two kidney transplants per day. This development would significantly enhance the country's capacity to address chronic kidney disease.
Prof Mungai said the facility will also play a significant role in treating prostate cancer, bladder cancer, and urethral trauma.
“This has never happened before in Kenya. We want to get this going because patients are already suffering, and we are already paying off loans for the project,” he said
'In terms of readiness, we are at 95 percent. We could open at any time now. We don’t expect to go beyond July,” said Prof Mungai.
Although the opening date has been pushed back from March to July, the physical infrastructure of the institute is nearly ready. Three floors, including the surgical and training areas, are fully complete and operational.
The two upper floors still require the finishing touches. Equipment has been procured and inspected, and personnel will be recruited from the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta National Hospital, and elsewhere.
Although the cost of a kidney transplant is not expected to decrease significantly from the current Sh500,000 covered by the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), the institute aims to increase capacity, expand access and improve the consistency and availability of specialised care.
‘We are not just looking to reduce cost. We are aiming to improve the consistency and availability of specialised care. Currently, the capacity is too limited, and not all hospitals can provide this level of service,” he added.
Once fully operational, the 250-bed institute is expected to perform over 2,000 operations each year.
