Squads to collect pledged organs

Star: BENTONG: The Government will soon form teams of specialist doctors in each state to speed up the harvest of donated organs.
Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the squads would comprise specialists of different organs and that health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican was studying how best to implement the system.
“Not just any doctor can harvest all the organs. The heart specialist may only be able to harvest the heart. He may not be able to harvest the kidney or other organs,” he said after launching the Bentong Health Carnival yesterday.
He explained that there were delays currently in harvesting pledged organs after a donor passed away, especially if they were outside of Selangor.
Currently, there is only one team based in Kuala Lumpur Hospital that specialised in organ harvesting, he said.
“If someone in Pahang donated his organ, the team has to fly there by helicopter to harvest the organ. We need to set up teams at state level and look into the networking on how to harvest the organs in the shortest possible time,” he said.
In Malacca later, Liow said Malaysia and China would work towards medical cooperation in research and development on communicable diseases through the setting up of a research laboratory at the Institute of Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur.
He described the cooperation as a step forward following the close ties forged during the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak last year when both countries shared information about the disease.
Speaking to reporters after hosting a luncheon for his Chinese counterpart, Dr Chen Zhu, during a one-day visit to Malacca, Liow said the research would cover a wide range of communicable diseases, including that of dengue and malaria.
Apart from this, he said a centre of excellence in traditional Chinese medicine would also be set up in Malaysia through collaboration with China.
He also said that all hospitals would be directed to only allow senior doctors to carry out examination of suspected dengue cases.
This was to avoid such cases being turned away by hospitals, he said.
He was asked to comment on a report that a patient was turned away by Malacca Hospital on Friday after tests carried out by doctors failed to detect that she had contracted dengue.
The woman later admitted herself in a private hospital where she was confirmed to have the virus.
Liow said earlier that state health directors had been told to form at least 1,000 communication behavioural impact (Combi) teams to combat the surge in the illness.
“We hope all Rukun Tetangga can form Combi volunteer teams in residences and urban areas. This is the best method to wipe out dengue.”
He said that 25,942 cases of dengue have been recorded as of July 14 with 82 deaths.