The Council of Services at the Ministry of Health has approved setting up a regional center for organ transplants in the western region.
The center will start operations within two months, according to Faissal Shaheen, president of the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation. “The regional center would have a great positive impact on organ transplants and that would help increase the percentage of organ donors by more than 40 percent,” he said, adding that the activities of the center would cover the western region and Madinah.
Shaheen made the remarks while addressing the First GCC Conference for Organ Donors at Sheraton Hotel here on Wednesday. More than 400 delegates attended the conference organized by the Saudi Society for Activation of Organ Donation also known as “Altruism”.
Shaheen noted there are several donors in the western region but they face the problem of not getting the go-ahead for their humanitarian gesture.
“The establishment of such a center would help accelerate the procedures for endorsing organ donation at every hospital. Apart from this, there was an increase of 100 percent in the number of kidney donors in 2012 compared to last year. As for liver donors, their number also shot up 70 percent during the same period,” he said.
Addressing the conference, Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al-Turki, president of Altruism in the Eastern Province, said a blood donation committee would be established under the society.
“The committee will organize blood donation campaigns and contribute in supporting blood banks for all groups in various cities and regions across the Kingdom. It will also engage in spreading the culture of donation among people in addition to celebrating the International Organ Donation Day every year,” he said, adding organ donors will be honored on the day. Al-Turki said the committee would strive to bring down the waiting list of organ recipients throughout the Kingdom.
Hanan Al-Ghamdi, who chaired the conference, said Saudi Arabia is among the countries with the highest number of traffic accidents. “We do not have proper awareness on how to handle a brain dead patient. If there are scientific ways and equipment required by doctors as well as materials and facilities for organ preservation in brain dead patients, we can take advantage of the organs for transplant in the best possible manner,” she said. “It is unfortunate that we do not have specific programs in this respect.”
Al-Ghamdi also drew attention to the fact that the curricula for graduation and specialization courses in medicine do not contain anything with regard to taking care of brain dead patients. “This is the main reason for our lack of proficiency in handling such cases. However, in the case of many other countries, there are special courses on this important medical area,” she said, while urging participants to take advantage of the lectures delivered by experts in this field.
On the sidelines of the conference, a cooperation agreement was inked between Altruism and the American Organ Transplant Association (AOTA). Al-Turki represented Altruism in signing the deal while AOTA was represented by Fouad Beydoun, President & CEO of the International Association for Organ Donation (IAOD). Under the agreement, the two countries will exchange expertise and support scientific research on organ transplants in addition to setting up research chairs in this field.
