Organ Donations

Despite an aggressive campaign to increase the number of organ donors over the years, only 0.812% or 243,713 of the 30 million Malaysians today have pledged their organs, leaving the 18,384 people needing transplants in a quandary.

The Malaysian government and the National Transplant Resource Centre (NTRC) are at their wits' end on how to increase the number of donors.

It is learnt that of the 446 organ donors recorded since 1997, many were not pledgers but had their organs donated by their family.

Of the 18,384 patients on the NTRC waiting list, 18,347 are for kidneys, 15 adults and seven children (liver), four (heart), seven (lungs) and heart and lungs (four). 

Last year, the NTRC received organs from 44 donors comprising 25 kidneys, two livers, a heart, 59 corneas, 14 heart valves, 10 bones and a skin.

"We have more than 6,000 people, especially youths, dying in road accidents every year and if only the family members could donate their organs, many lives can be saved," said NTRC head, Datin Dr Lela Yasmin Mansor.

In the first two months of this year, 1,451 pledged organs of whom 557 were Chinese, Indians (503), Malays (345) and others (46).

Lela said the majority of organ pledgers were from Perak, Selangor and Penang with almost all pledging their all organs and tissues.    

  theSUN 27-02-2014