Reward organ donors and give their families incentives

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Organ donors should be rewarded and their families given incentives in a bid to save more lives, medical officers have suggested.
Cambridge University Visiting Professor and consultant surgeon Sir Roy Calne, who attended a seminar on organ transplantation at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre yesterday, urged the Government to be more committed to increase the number of organ donors.
“More coordination and determination by Government officials will benefit those in need of an organ to improve their health condition.
“With more doctors trained in transplantation, the rate of transplants will increase,” he said.
Neurosurgeon Dr C.M. Vickneswaran suggested that the Government consider paying the funeral expenses of a deceased donor.
“Another incentive is to provide medical benefits to the immediate family members of the deceased. For example, like pensioners are given medical benefits, the children of donors could receive medical benefits until they are 18,” he proposed.
Universiti Malaya Vice-Chancellor Datuk Rafiah Salim said that kidney transplantation, which was the most effective treatment for kidney failure, had unfortunately lagged in Malaysia.
“In Malaysia, our transplantation rate remains one of the lowest in the world as there is slightly less than one transplant per million people compared to countries in Europe, where the transplant rate is at 33% per million population.