Worrying drop in organ donors

Star: There have been only seven deceased organ and tissue donors so far this year. But there are far more patients waiting desperately in line to receive the organs and tissues.
National Transplant Resource Centre coordinator Dr Lela Yasmin Mansor is seriously worried.
Among the seven donors this year, only one donated organs.
The other six donated tissues such as cornea and bones.
“All of us (doctors) are worried,” she said in a phone interview yesterday.
To make matters worse, the number of deceased donors or cadaveric donors has dropped sharply after recording a steady increase in the past.
This has dashed expectations among the doctors that the setting up of the resource centre in 1997 and the National Procurement Management Unit in 2001 would lead to more donors.
Last year, there were 16 donors, down from 25 donors in 2003 and 30 donors in 2002.
“We don't understand why we don't get donors as the accidental deaths are high compared to other countries,” Dr Lela Yasmin said.
“This is also demoralising for doctors, nurses and others who are involved in organ transplant,” she said.
The National Heart Institute (IJN) has not been able to carry out any heart transplant for the past two years as there has not been any heart donor, she said.
“One of the worries is that the transplant team's skills may become rusty since it does not get to perform tranplants regularly and new staff are also not familiar with the process.
“It’s like a breakdown in the chain and the momentum has dropped,” she said.
There are eight patients on the waiting list for heart transplants at IJN.