Hawaii lawmakers to decide on appropriations for organ transplants

KPUA News 67 AM

House and Senate leaders will decide this afternoon on details of a measure that could appropriate $3 million to assist Queens Hospital in opening a new transplant center.

Governor Abercrombie is expected to release Emergency appropriation funds to support kidney and liver transplants in the state.

With the recent closure of Hawaii Medical Center on Oahu, the state’s health system has been strained and there is now no center for Medicare or Medicaid-certified service providers for kidney or liver transplants.

Hawaii residents in need of organ transplants must now travel to the mainland in order to receive them.