Half a million people registered as potential organ donors in Qatar

Doha, The Gulf Observer: Number of people registered with Qatar’s Organ Donor Registry as potential donors has seen a significant increase and created a major impact, said a senior official.

Organ donor registry, which is part of the Organ Donation Programme, has registered around 25 percent of the population in the country and it has led to introduce new organ donation programmes in the country, said Director of the Qatar Organ Donation Center, Dr Riadh Fadhil.

He said Hamad Medical Corporation will start the heart transplant programme within this year. “People who register as potential organ donors have agreed to donate their organs after their death. We have reached half a million such donors. This is unique as it is 25 percent of Qatar’s adult population. Nobody in the world or region has reached this percentage,” he said, speaking to media recently.

“The organ donor registry is legally abiding registration — this is not done online but people do face to face. We go to people in the shopping malls, talk to them, teach them what is organ donation and they register if they wish.”

As a result of ongoing awareness campaigns at the national level, the Organ Donor Registry receives increased number of people to register as potential donors on a daily basis. “Every year the number of the deceased donors and living donors is increasing, as a result we are starting the new programmes, and the number of transplant is increasing. We are now transplanting kidneys – which represents the major part of the transplant and then the liver and the lung,” said Dr. Fadhil.

“This year we will start the heart transplant. We are working actively having all the logistics, all the staff and training, and we are about to do it,” he said.

The Organ Donor Registry is a national, confidential list of individuals who have agreed to donate their organs after their death. It can be quickly accessed in the event of a death to see whether an individual has registered their willingness to be an organ donor. Qatar has a single waiting list for organ transplantation with unbiased access to transplant services, irrespective of nationality. An organ transplant can be a life-saving procedure. It can also significantly improve the quality of life for someone with chronic organ failure.

A deceased organ donor can save up to eight lives.

It is also possible to donate a kidney or part of the liver while alive.

Currently, Qatar offers kidney, liver, lung and stem cell transplantation programmes.

Lung transplant is the latest programme introduced in Qatar and the first surgery was conducted in June 2021.

In 2022, The Qatar Organ Donation Center (Hiba) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) honoured 71 living kidney donors, eight living liver donors, 10 stem cell donors and 35 deceased donor families.

Dr. Fadhil also said that the HMC’s annual organ donation campaign during the holy month of Ramadan will be launched this week.