The number of registered organ donors in the country has reached more than 452,000 showing an increase of around 31% within two years. As a result of ongoing national level awareness campaigns, the Organ Donor Registry receives increased number of people to register as potential donors on a daily basis, according to a senior official.
Members of the public were asked to consider giving the gift of life and register to become an organ donor as part of Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) organ donation campaign. “There are more than 452,000 people in Qatar’s organ donor registry, around 15,000 people have registered since September 2020,” Dr Asma Al Abdulghani, Director of HMC’s Organ Donation Campaign, told The Peninsula.
“Due to the successful awareness program number of people register as potential donors increases day by day,” she said. In May 2019 more than 345,000 were registered as potential organ donors and it increased by more than 107,000 in June 2021.
The annual Ramadan Campaign for Organ Donation Awareness was held at four locations including at malls adhering COVID-19 precautionary measures. As part of the campaign, information booths staffed by Qatar Organ Donation Center (Hiba) representatives are providing members of the public with information about becoming a registered organ donor, including the process involved and the benefits.
The annual campaign also allows the public to ask questions about organ donation and transplantation. Individuals who are interested in becoming a donor are able to register at the booths and receive their donor card on the spot.
“In Qatar, we have kidney, liver and a transplantation programs, and transplant surgeries are performed by a team of highly skilled professionals. We have state-of-theart facilities and provide safe and compassionate care,” said Dr Al Abdulghani. She also said the recent launch of the lung transplant programme is one of the biggest achievements in Qatar’s transplantation programs.
“The impact of the awareness campaign and the excellent outcome of organ transplantation extend to both the deceased donation rate and living donation from relatives as well. Every year we receive almost 100 prospective living kidney donors who usually receive full ethical and clinical evaluation to be living donors of kidneys to their loved ones,” said Dr Al Abdulghani.
“Every year we do about 40 kidney transplantation; this means that rate of organ transplantation increased 20 times in ten years time. Thanks to the great support of H E Dr Hanan Mohammed Alkuwari, Minister of Public Health and the great teamwork by the state of art HMC centers,” she said.
Qatar Organ Donor Registry was launched in 2012. The donor registry is a confidential national list of people who are willing to become organ donors after their death. It can be quickly accessed in the event of a death to see whether an individual has registered as a donor. An organ transplant can be a lifesaving procedure and can significantly improve the quality of life for someone with chronic organ failure.
These life-saving organs come from deceased donors who have pledged during their lifetime to give their organs to someone in need. A deceased organ donor can save up to eight lives.
“ We call upon all the public to make use of these two world class facilities to treat their patients in, we see no need for patients to travel abroad for transplantation need, outcome of our programs speak for their self, we in HMC presents the best quality most compassionate and safest service,” said Dr Al Abdulghani.
