The registry has 500,000 registered potential donors.
Similar several other areas of healthcare services, 2022 is a most successful year ever for Qatar’s Organ Transplant and Organ Donation Programmes, with more kidney transplants than ever before being conducted at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).
Qatar Organ Donation Center’s (Hiba) marked the 10th anniversary with the organ donor registry exceeding 500,000 registered donors, representing around 25 percent of Qatar’s adult population. The number of registered donors has risen by 10.5% compared to June 2021.
The Qatar Organ Donation Center (HIBA) was launched in August 2012 to lead, manage, document and supervise all organ donation activities in Qatar and ensure full implementation of the Doha Donation Accord and Transplantation law No. 21 1997. The center is the hub of the national donor registry, transplant registry and research data base and is resolute to achieve self sufficiency through public education and promotion of donation.
Qatar’s organ transplant programme offers kidney, liver and now lung transplant surgeries making HMC one of the most comprehensive transplant centres in the region.
During an event in November, HIBA and HMC honoured 71 living kidney donors, eight living liver donors, 10 stem cell donors and 35 deceased donor families.
The Medal of Altruism was presented to 124 living donors and the families of deceased donors. The event also saw acknowledgement of 23 Qatari kidney transplant recipients who chose to have their transplant surgery in Qatar rather than going abroad for treatment.
Other achievements of the last 12 months include three successful lung transplant operations during the first year of the programme launch.
With the high numbers registered donors the conversion rate organ donations has also increased, Medical Director of Hamad General Hospital and Director of Qatar Center for Organ Transplantation, Dr. Yousef Al Maslamani, earliyer said in an interview with The Peninsula.
“As we are continuously reaching out and informing the importance of organ donation in saving the lives of patients with chronic organ failure there is increase in the interest of multinational members of the community to register as an organ donor after life,” he said.
He also mentioned that the increase in conversion rate is a good sign and we hope it to increase more.
The conversion rate was defined as the number of actual donors divided by the number of potential donors.
The organ donor registry in Qatar is a national, confidential list of individuals who have agreed to donate their organs after their death.
Qatar has a single waiting list for organ transplantation with unbiased access to transplant services, irrespective of nationality.
The Doha Donation Accord an internationally recognized model sets out governing policies and principles that provide the framework for organ donation programmes aimed at promoting the health and rights of both donors and recipients.
An organ transplant can be a life-saving procedure. It can also significantly improve the quality of life for someone with chronic organ failure. A deceased organ donor can save up to eight lives. It is also possible to donate a kidney or part of the liver while alive.
