Ministry strives to increase organ donations
PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry is looking into ways to increase the number of organ donors to use harvested organs on a wider scale, particularly for kidney transplants.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said this was due to hospitals not getting enough organs suitable for transplants.
He said here yesterday that most patients on the organ transplant waiting list were in need of kidneys, but only a fraction of Malaysians had pledged to donate.
“Unfortunately, we are not getting enough suitable organs for transplants. This is something we are trying to improve,” he said.
Dr Subramaniam was responding to a claim that doctors in Malaysia played the role of “middlemen” in arranging organ transplants for their patients from their counterparts overseas, which goes against the Human Tissues Act 1974.
While he did not deny the claim,
Unfortunately, we are not getting enough suitable organs for transplants. Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam
he stressed that such an act was illegal.
“It is something we will advise them not to do because a lot of complications can arise,” he said.
“Every country has its own regulations on organ transplants and they want to protect their citizens so that they are not exploited, especially by organ sales rackets.
“As far as our legal system goes, Malaysia does not support that,” he added. — Bernama