KUALA LUMPUR: MySejahtera users will be able to register themselves as organ donors via the application from tomorrow.
“We hope by making it easier for those interested in registering, more people will be encouraged to join in this noble effort,” said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
“The more registered donors there are, the higher the likelihood that a patient in need of an organ transplant will be able to find a match,” he added.
Furthermore, he said the registration of organ donors would reduce the risk of conflict within families who might not have been informed previously by the donor of their registered status.
Saving lives: Khairy adding the final touches to a mural promoting organ donor awareness during the 2022 National Organ Donation Awareness Week at Dataran PPR Seri Alam 2. — SHAARI CHEMAT/The Star
Speaking to reporters after closing the national organ donation awareness week yesterday, Khairy said Malaysia ranked among the lowest in terms of the number of organ transplant operations in the world, despite the country having access to ample expertise and equipment needed to perform such surgery.
He added that Malaysia was among the 10 countries with the lowest transplant rate last year at only 2.84 organ transplants done per million population, according to the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation.
Khairy, who registered as an organ donor himself in 2015, said that there had been over 2,700 successful organ transplants cases since 1975, but added that this was nothing in comparison to the number of patients still waiting for an organ donation.
“There are 10,442 people on the waiting list for an urgent organ transplant,” he added.
He said that there were 517,758 registered organ donors in the country.
“However, this is not sufficient due to the complicated and urgent nature of organ transplant surgery, including the necessary precise matching of donor with patient, and the extremely short interval for successful organ harvest and transplant surgery after the death of the donor,” he said.
