QuestionsQuestions (DOH ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2010-0018)
To revise the national policy on living non-related donation and transplantation and its implementing structure by amending Administrative Order No. 2008-0004-A, including provisions that abolish non-directed LNRD, clarify program scope, and establish/rename key institutional structures.
A living donor who is not related by blood to the recipient but has the willingness and intention to donate a kidney based on certain reasons.
They are classified into (1) Voluntary Donors—those with close emotional ties such as spouses, relatives by affinity, long-standing employers/employees, colleagues, fiancè/fiancée, and adoptive parents/children; and (2) Commercial Donors—kidney/organ vendors where payment or promise of payment is a precondition.
A Directed Donor is someone who has a specific recipient in mind (donor designation considered). A Non-Directed Donor donates to whoever he/she matches on a list of waiting patients.
No. The Order explicitly states that Non-directed LNRD are not allowed to donate organs for transplantation.
The Order prohibits payment as a precondition and strictly prohibits the sale and purchase of kidneys by kidney vendors/commercial donors.
WHO Guiding Principles on Organ Transplantation, the Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism, and RA 9208 (Anti-Human Trafficking Act) and its IRR.
Payment as a precondition for kidney donation and sale/purchase of kidneys by commercial donors is strictly prohibited.
Foreigners are not eligible to receive organs from Filipino living non-related donors.
Kidney transplantation is not part of medical tourism.
No hospital, foundation, organization, or agency (public or private) may keep a list of potential non-directed LNRDs or utilize non-directed LNRDs for transplantation.
Only when voluntary and truly altruistic, without any kind of compensation or gratuity; they must be screened and approved by the Hospital Ethics Committee (HEC).
Transplant facilities can only be set up in DOH-licensed hospitals and must be accredited to perform kidney/organ transplantation.
PHILNOS (Philippine Network for Organ Sharing) is created as the coordinating body for allocating organs from deceased donors; it also maintains national registries and coordinates deceased donor allocation, reflecting the transfer/abolition of functions related to non-directed LNRD.
To review and approve policies supporting an ethical, rational, accessible, and equitable organ transplantation program; and to approve issuance of Certificates of Accreditation for transplant facilities.
Each transplant facility must establish its own Hospital Ethics Committee (HEC), Hospital Transplant Coordinating Office (HTCO), and Kidney Donor Monitoring Unit (KDMU).