Religious And Legal Views Of Transplantology In Liberia

Abstract

Transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site to another location on the person’s own body, to replace the recipient’s damaged or absent organ. The practice of transplantation is performed only by foreign Medical Doctors in Liberia. This is because of the lack of professional surgeons in that area of medicine, due to the country’s 14 years of civil war. This practice started about 3 years ago. Doctors from the United States of America, Canada, and Germany are invited to carry on the procedures on patients that need kidney, heart, liver transplant and etcetera. In Liberia, transplantation is very costly(expensive) and an average Liberians cannot afford it. There are charitable organizations and non-governmental organizations that are responsible to fund the bills of those patients. Legal issues. The government of Liberia is not in full support of transplantation due to implicationsthat are involved with it. There are lots of unlawful practices that go on in order to obtain the requested organ. Most live organs come from the poor who sell body parts to pay debt or start small projects to earn a living to escape poverty or unemployment. Even though the government wants to help their citizens by saving lives, but they want it to be done legally. There is a bill (law) that has been placed on the table in the house of parliament to be discussed and pass into legal action. Religious issues. Liberia is a Christian domination and many Christians are totally against organ transplant. Many believed that it is a sin against God’s well to have an organ removed from the dead. Anyone who dies should go with all of their organs that were given to them by God. The religious leaders of Liberia had had a peaceful match against the practice of organ transplantation that brought awareness to the public eyes. People are not willing to donate the organ of their dead love ones to any hospital for such practice.