By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter
The Qatar Organ Donation Centre (Hiba) at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has set an ambitious target of 100,000 donors by the end of this year. Hiba has so far received consent from 45,000 donors.
“The initiative of HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation, as well as Dr. Hanan al- Kuwari , managing director of HMC and other senior officials to donate their organs has motivated a large number of residents to join this noble initiative," a senior official of HMC told Gulf Times yesterday.
"I am very hopeful that the target of 100,000 is reachable within this year and we have several campaigns to accomplish the target,” explained Dr Abdulla al-Ansari, chief of medical, academic and research affairs, HMC and the chairman of the Surgery Department at Hamad General Hospital (HGH).
The Organ Donation and Transplantation team successfully completed seven life-saving surgeries, comprising of three liver and four kidney transplantations, in February.
“We have come a long way since the launch of the organ donation programme," stated Dr Riadh Fadhil, director of Hiba. "In the first year, we got only very few donation-after-death consents per year. However, with the support and commitment of the leaders and staff at HMC, deceased as well as living-related donations have increased, which is a testament to the success of the programme.”
Dr Fadhil observed that the Doha model of organ donation is a unique one. “The organ donation and transplantation system in Doha is built upon the principles of providing equality in access to transplantation services and distribution of donated organs and high ethical standards of healthcare services. This system has, in a short span of time, gained international recognition and support for successfully building a discrimination-free system."
“We have taken away all the barriers in organ donation. Those who wish to donate their organs to people living in other countries also can do so. We will arrange free visa, transportation, surgery and all the other facilities needed for successful transplantation of the organ.”
Dr Yousuf al-Maslamani, medical director of HGH and director of Qatar Centre for Organ Transplantation said: “We are on par with international standards and are working on further developing our services. There has been a significant drop in the number of patients going abroad for commercial transplantation purposes and this is a major encouragement for us to further enhance our services to achieve our goal of self-sufficiency in terms of organ donation and transplantation.”
Within a span of three years, the Organ Donation Registry has grown tremendously, with the number of donors increasing from 5,000 to 45,000 from108 nationalities including Qataris.The centre will also conduct pancreas transplantation in the near future.