Inadequate Supply Of Human Tissues For Treatment

KOTA BAHARU, July 29 (Bernama) -- The country is facing a shortage of human tissues for medical treatment due to the public's lukewarm response to organ donation.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said the people should be aware of the importance of organ donation for medical purposes.
"Organ donation should adhere to the guidelines and fatwa (religious ruling) so that it would not be against the law, syarak (Islamic law) and other religions," he said at the National Tissue Bank's 15th anniversary celebrations here today.
His speech was read out by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Health Campus director Datuk Dr Mafauzy Mohamed.
The National Tissue Bank was set up at the campus in Kubang Kerian with the cooperation of the Malaysia Nuclear Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1994.
The project was introduced in 1990 with aid from IAEA and is manned by personnel from the Science Technology and Environment Ministry.
Mustapa said the tissue bank supplied various types of tissue grafts and replacement tissues for patients suffering bone problems, scalding and cornea ulcer.
He said so far more than 10,000 patients had benefited from tissue grafts supplied by the tissue bank at 38 hospitals in the country.
Since its formation, the tissue bank had received the Quality Management System MS ISO 9001:2000 certification in 2005.
Monitored by the IAEA, the tissue bank is carrying out research to improve its services to the people including identifying artificial organs.
"The country is facing inadequate supply of human tissues, especially bones tissues, as human tissue donation is still low," he said.
He said USM's research work had created biomaterial clusters which involved several branches of science to pioneer biomaterial science and tissue engineering.
At the function, students who won essay writing and poster competitions in conjunction with the celebrations, received commendation letters and cash awards.