Not too long ago, cultural sensibilities meant organ donation was a touchy issue in Qatar, but thanks to the efforts of local authorities, there has been a sea change in people’s attitude towards this noble cause.
Yesterday, the Qatar Organ Donation Centre (Hiba) announced that the country’s Organ Donor Registry has crossed the 100,000 mark, up from 43,000 last year, a significant figure considering Qatar’s low population.
Hiba has been running a campaign across schools and malls highlighting the importance of organ donation which has yielded the desired results with thousands of residents and citizens registering themselves as donors.
“Reaching 100,000 registered donors was achieved through the great efforts of Hiba and its supporters in the community”, said Hamad Medical Corporation managing director Dr Hanan al-Kuwari.
“We especially owe a great deal of gratitude to HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser for her unwavering support for our programme. Through her generous act of registering as an organ donor, Her Highness made a clear and unequivocal pledge to support organ donation and her demonstration of leadership by example helped tremendously in encouraging more people in Qatar to register as organ donors,” Dr al-Kuwari added.
It is no secret that across the world millions of lives are lost every year because people afflicted by chronic organ diseases or victims of accidents cannot find a donor, or because the cost of transplantation is too prohibitive.
In the US, which boasts the world’s best medical care and where there are no taboos associated with organ donation or transplantation, about 123,000 people are currently on the waiting list for lifesaving surgery, with one name added to the list every 12 minutes.
It is said that one deceased donor can save approximately eight lives and can enhance the lives of 100 people through the healing gift of tissue donation.
However, even a living donor can donate a kidney or part of his liver, lung, intestine or bone marrow, and thereby experience the tremendous joy of seeing a relative, friend or a total stranger enjoy the gift of life which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
The fact that Qatar’s initiatives have borne fruit can be gauged from the fact that there has been a considerable drop in the number of people going abroad for transplantation procedures.
However, there’s a lot of scope for improvement, especially in the way how people can be encouraged to register as organ donors.
For example, it would be a great idea if people are asked whether they would want to register themselves as organ donors when they apply for, say, a new driver’s licence, medical card or bank account. The application form can have a column to this effect.
A donor’s identity card could then carry the information, thus making it easier for the relevant authorities to complete the procedures on time in the unfortunate event of a donor’s death. After all, could there be anything more comforting to a deceased person’s loved ones than the knowledge that he or she has left the world while giving the gift of life to two or three people?