Organ donation, whether during life or after death, should be encouraged, according to the National Organ Transplant Programme of the Ministry of Health (MoH).
One should instil the concept of a medical will for organ donation since humans are the only source of organs and developing protocols to save several lives around us.
Speaking at an awareness-raising seminar on the importance of organ donation organised by the Ministry of Health, represented by the National Organ Transplant Programme Department, at the main branch of Ooredoo, Dr Qasim al Jahdhami, Head of the Organ Donation Department at the National Organ Transplant Programme, said that organ donation does not affect the health of the donor.
“Comparing the lives of patients before and after organ transplantation and the phase of returning to a normal life, we have found that organ donation during one’s life doesn’t harm the donor. Everyone should disseminate the ethics of donation, and that there is no harm in doing so,” said Dr Al Jahdhami.
“We need to have a culture of organ donation and every step should be taken to spread awareness on the same so that those who are in need of organs can dream of a new life,” the seminar opined.
The four different types of organ donation are living donation, deceased donation, tissue donation and paediatric donation. And, due to the poor supply of organs than what is actually needed, many people on the organ transplant list are in long wait.
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
The Ministry of Health had launched the national campaign to raise awareness of organ donation in 2022, coinciding with the Omani Organ Donation Day, in cooperation with the Omani Association for Organ Transplantation, with the aim of educating community members about organ donation.
Scholars say that the Holy Quran has a verse regarding the same and says ‘If anyone saves a life, it is as if he saves the lives of all humankind’. Accordingly, donating one’s organs is a blessed act in that it saves a life. It is a moral responsibility to allow our organs to be used for transplantation, if that will help save lives and improve the quality of life for others. The awareness-raising introductory symposium on the importance of organ donation was also accompanied by a mini-exhibition to answer questions related to organ transplantation and how to register in the Shifa application for organ donation.
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