Half a million register as organ donors in Qatar

In a unique feat, half a million of Qatar’s adult population has volunteered to donate their organs with Qatar Organ Donation Centre, making it a quarter of the adult population of the country, disclosed a top official recently.
“In 2022, we reached the half million mark of organ donors with over 500,000, to be exact 500,105 which is very unique. Achieving half a million donors is very unique because this is about 25% of the adult population in Qatar. No country in the world has achieved such a feat of a quarter of the adult population registering as organ donors,” said Dr Riadh Fadhil, director of the Qatar Organ Donation Centre under Hamad Medical Corporation.
Dr Fadhil was speaking to the media recently on the sidelines of the Middle East Forum on patient healthcare and safety. He also disclosed that the first heart transplant in the country will take place this year.
Dr Fadhil noted that those who register for donating their organs are fully briefed on the whole process. “This is a legally abiding registration and it is not done online but face to face. We go to the people in the shopping malls or other places and talk to them, teach them what is organ donation and they register if they wish,” he continued.
According to the official, the mission of the Organ Donation Centre- started in 2012- as well as the Organ Donation Programme is to have a healthy number of deceased as well as living donors among the Qatari community.
“And every year the number of the deceased donors and living donors is increasing as a result of the new programmes and campaigns that we launch. The number of transplants is also increasing. We are now transplanting kidneys – which represents the major part of the transplant- liver and the lungs. The number of donations this year exceeded all the previous years, since the start of the programme,” he explained.
The director of the centre stated that every year, the deceased and living donors are honoured. “This year we have recognised 83 living donors and 35 deceased donors with the medal of honour. This is the highest number from the start of the programme,” he highlighted.
Dr Fadhil said the number of donors dropped down during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. “After that there was a difference. So this is the best recognition event we had so far this year and at the same time, we are working on developing our donor registry with those people who register as potential organ donors after death. We will be launching our next campaign for organ donation during Ramadan,” he pointed out.
Dr Fadhil commented that as a result of the increase in the deceased donor and living donor numbers, the centre was able to achieve the best year in organ transplantation. “We have had 65 organ transplants, mainly over 50 kidney transplants, the rest liver and lungs. This year we will introduce the heart transplant. We are working actively to have all the logistics in place with all the staff and training. We are getting set to do it and it will happen very soon,” added, the official.