Myths And Misconceptions Cause Low Number Of Organ Donations

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 (Bernama) -- Some 9,000 Malaysians are still waiting for a kidney transplant, while 2,500 new patients are diagnosed with end-stage renal failure every year.
However, due to myths and misconceptions about organ donations, these patients are still waiting for donors.
Kuala Lumpur Hospital's National Transplant Resource Centre chief coordinator Dr Lela Yasmin Mansor said the fear surrounding organ donation coupled with lack of awareness, played a part in dampening efforts to have more people registering as organ donors.
"Myths like organ donation will disfigure the persons and delay their funeral, and that organ donation is against their religion are some of the stumbling blocks," she told a media briefing on Reader's Digest Asia's organ donation drive, here Wednesday.
"Others are that doctors would not try to save your life if they know you are a donor, that you may be too old to donate organs and that people can still recover from brain death.
"Do not let such myths and misconceptions stop you from giving 'the gift of life'. Once you overcome your fear, you will be able to see how recipients will benefit from your deed," she added.
But more importantly, she said, organ donors should inform their families and loved ones of their decision as they are the ones to carry out the cause should they pass away.
"It is not enough simply to keep the organ donor card in your wallet.
"Letting the people close to you know about your wish will ensure that the process is easier when the time comes," she said.
Vice-president of the Malaysian Society of Transplantation Dr Tan Chwee Choon commended Reader's Digest Asia's effort to include an organ donor card in its November issue accompanied with an article on organ donation.
He said organ donation was still low in the country and based on the First Report of the National Transplant Registry in 2004, less than six per cent of end-stage kidney failure got transplanted and the vast majority had to accept life-long dialysis therapy as their only option.
The National Heart Institute's (IJN) Heart and Lungs Transplant Services director, Dr Mohamed Ezani Mohamed Taib, said another difficulty to transplant was that the process also depended on finding a suitable donor for the recipient as it depended on the blood group.
Present at the briefing was Reader's Digest Asia's editor-in-chief Jim Plouffe.