07 Mar 2023

Botswana does not have a legal or legislative framework at the moment regarding donating bodies for science. This was said by Assistant Minister of

Health, Mr Setlhomo Lelatisitswe in response to a parliamentary question on Monday. “Efforts by government will be directed by appropriate legal instrument on the matter, when such comes into existence.

Therefore there has not been any mobilisation towards donation of bodies,” Mr Lelatisitswe said.

He added that since there was no legal or legislative framework, the medical school had not been using cadavers or dead bodies for teaching and learning.

He said medical school had been using standard, reliable and internationally recognised methods of teaching the relevant subjects using models and other technological advances in medical education.

“Even if and when the legislative framework gets established and allows for the use of donated bodies, their use will be just one of the tools used in the training of doctors and other biomedical scientists,” he added.

Nevertheless, Mr Lelatisitswe told Parliament that donation of human bodies and tissues was captured under Section 167 of the Public Health Act.

“It allows any person who is competent to write a will, when executed in accordance with the Wills Act to donate his or her body or specific tissue to be used after death for any medical or dental purposes,” he said.

Member of Parliament for Molepolole North, Mr Oabile Regoeng had asked the minister to state efforts by the ministry to mobilise and encourage Batswana to donate bodies to the medical school after death and their reaction.

Mr Regoeng also wanted to know the number of Batswana who had donated bodies since the medical school opened. ENDS