Less than 1% of organ donors fulfill promises

PETALING JAYA, 9 June – The National Transplant Resource Centre (NTRC) has revealed that between 1997 and April this year, less than 1% of those who pledged to donate organs fulfilled their promises.

Statistics from the NTRC showed that only 2,641 organ transplants were performed in that period, including 1,752 kidney transplants from living donors and 651 from posthumous organ donations, a small number compared to the 510,186 pledgers.

There are 49,111 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients awaiting organ donations, with the lack of donations leaving them to rely on dialysis treatment instead.

National Kidney Foundation chairman Dr Zaki Morad Mohd Zaher said although the number of people pledging to donate organs was high, the short supply of kidney donations stemmed from prospective donors dying in conditions that left their organs unsuitable for transplantation.

“When prospective donors die in their homes and we are alerted late, we miss the window of opportunity to procure their kidneys.

“Kidney donors have to die under certain circumstances, such as in hospitals, to enable organ procurement,” Utusan Malaysia quoted him as saying.

Zaki said the surgical procedure had to be done within four hours of the time of death to ensure the organ functioned properly.

He said an estimated 20,000 CKD patients were eligible for transplants but only 80 to 100 kidneys were procured yearly, with some patients having to wait 20 to 30 years for an organ.

Zaki expressed concern over the situation as the number of CKD patients continued to increase yearly, with 26,962 new patients recorded between January 2019 to December 2020.