The Kingdom is in need of 500 heart transplants yearly.

“If people knew how dire the situation is, they would become much more keen to donate organs," said Dr. Faisal Shaheen, director-general of the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation (SCOT).

"We are in need of almost 1,200 kidneys. Around 500 patients are on the waiting list for heart transplants, 700 for liver transplants, 500 for pancreas transplants and 500 patients for lung transplants yearly in the Kingdom. Forty-seven percent of patients are in the 26 to 55 age bracket,” he said.

“There is no religious disagreement on organ donation. Senior religious scientists have allowed organ donation.”

The SCOT organized a three-day awareness campaign at the Hamra Corniche starting from Thursday on organ transplant and donation.

Shaheen said: “We only have around 120 to 130 donors and there is only a 36-percent chance of finding matching donors. Cases of brain death registered in courts only account for 60 percent of the actual number of available donors. We can achieve an 80-percent match rate if all the cases are registered.”

SCOT statistics indicate that 90 percent of brain-dead patients are in intensive care units.

Shaheen said: “Around 631 suspected cases of brain death have been reported to SCOT, out of which 324, or 51 percent, were documented and officially declared brain dead.”

Around 307 cases of brain death were due to cardiac arrest and six cases were declared medically unfit for transplant due to sepsis, infection or cancer.

Shaheen said the families of 271 patients have been interviewed on the subject of organ donation, while 53 cases were excluded from the list due to medical reasons.

Approval for organ donation was obtained for 93 cases, representing an increase of 34 percent.

Dr. Hifa Misfar Al–Qathmai, assistant professor and consultant in anesthesia and intensive care at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah and head of the organizing committee for the donation awareness campaign, said that the main goal of this campaign is to spread awareness and educate the public about organ donation and its benefits.

The organ donation campaign will continue at Red Sea Mall on Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The campaign will be launched in Makkah on Dec. 12 and in Taif on Dec. 26.

For more information on organ donation, please visit http://www.scot.org.sa.