Dhaka: The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft law, Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 2017, aiming to check the illegal trade of human organs keeping a provision for three years of rigorous imprisonment or Tk 10lakh fine or both for violation of the law.

The approval came from the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at the Cabinet Division of the Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Additional secretary M Ashraf Shamim briefed reporters after the meeting.

Without the government approval, Shamim said, no hospital can conduct human organ transplantation in the country while the public hospitals having specialised units in this regard can do the job without taking any approval.

He also said private hospitals have to apply to the authorities concerned to do the job within 60 days of enactment of the law.

As per the proposed law, there will be a medical board in every hospital for deciding the transplantation matter and a National Cadaveric Committee to oversee the human organs transplantation in the country.

Organ donation is the donation of biological tissue or an organ of the human body, from a living or dead person to a living recipient who needs a transplantation.

In the name of organ donation, illegal trade of organs has reportedly been going on in the country for over a decade.

Wealthy recipients and brokers trick the poor and illiterate people into selling their organs by making false promises like high prices and jobs and travelling to foreign countries.

The existing law stipulates imprisonment for three to seven years, Tk 3lakh as fine or both for violating the law.