Sunday 24 / November / 2024
Muscat: As many as 7,092 donors (organ donors after death) have registered on Shifa application of the Ministry of Health. Since 1988, the number of organ transplants in Oman has reached 347. Among them were 325 kidney transplants obtained from 306 live donors and 19 deceased donors. The number of liver transplants from live donors stood at 22.
This was revealed during the Health Ministry’s launch of the National Campaign for Organ Donation aimed at raising public awareness about the importance of organ donation. The drive is organised in conjunction with Oman Organ Donation Day, which falls on 19 December every year.
Dr. Mohammed bin Said Al Mamari, Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, patron of the event said that the Sharia aims to protect society, which is achieved by organ donation. Organ donation is one of the ongoing and eternal good deeds encouraged by Islam and it is a source of joy for people and offers lives to others through donors, he said urging members of society to take the initiative for organ donation.
John Jabbou, representative of the World Health Organisation to the Sultanate, praised the continued efforts and cooperation of the WHO office with the Ministry of Health.
He said that the Sultanate’s Organ Transplant Programme has been revised and the revision has come out with important recommendations, mainly the national workshop which brings together representatives of all government departments and civil associations for the purpose of establishing a solid foundation for the Sultanate’s Organ Transplant Programme.
He said that the World Health Organisation has prepared a comprehensive report which ensures the review of the present condition of the National Organ Transplant Programme. He added that the report has identified the fields of priority and has dealt with the legal opinion and the moral and clinical views to be addressed and proposed the work of the WHO team concerned with organ donation and transplant.
Dr. Ahmed bin Said Al Busaidi, Director of the Organ Transplant Programme and Chairman of Oman Transplant Society (OTS) pointed to the role of the programme which aimed to contribute to achievement of the prescribed principles in the field of organ transplant. He also pointed to the big number of patients with kidney failure in the Sultanate of Oman.
The event included a workshop on organ donation. Specialists in the field took part in the workshop, which also saw the felicitation of a number of donors.
The National Campaign for Organ Donation highlights organ donation as a humanitarian gesture, a generous initiative and an ideal solution towards the treatment of kidney failure and liver malfunction, among other ailments suffered by millions of people around the world.
