KUALA LUMPUR: Organ transplantation will be placed on the national agenda next year, with the Health Ministry restructuring the National Transplant Centre (NTC) into a central command body.
This is to drive policy, governance and nationwide coordination, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (pic).
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He noted that Malaysia’s transplant activity remains far below national needs, despite strong clinical expertise, public infrastructure and a growing burden of end-stage organ failure driven by the prevalence of non-communicable diseases and systemic gaps in prevention and early care.
"Over the past two years, we have been quietly rebuilding the engine of our National Transplant Services... a critical foundation is the structural empowerment of the NTC (which was) previously operating under Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL)," he said in a post on X on Monday (Dec 29) night.
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"We are elevating the National Transplant Resource Centre (NTRC) (into the) NTC, directly under the purview of the Medical Development Division, ministry headquarters. This shifts it from a 'hospital unit' to a 'national command centre' giving it the mandate to drive policy nationwide."
Dzulkefly said that while the ministry remains realistic about challenges such as the long training period required to produce transplant specialists, immediate steps are being taken to optimise existing resources through strategic public-private and university hospital collaborations.
Among the key initiatives outlined is the groundwork for establishing a National Transplant Council, which will function as the central authority for data and resource management.
Dzulkefly said the ministry is unlocking public-private partnerships by engaging experts from private and university hospitals to form a unified national procurement team.
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On policy and regulatory reforms, he said the revision of the National Organ, Tissue and Cell Transplantation Policy 2007 is in its final stages to align with global standards, while a review of the Human Tissue Act 1974 is also under way to better protect living donors and streamline processes.
However, he stressed that structural reform alone would not be enough without a parallel shift in public mindset towards organ donation.
"Over 400,000 Malaysians have registered as organ donors, yet more than 10,000 patients remain on transplant waiting lists. There’s more to be done,” he said.
To improve accessibility, he said the donor pledge process has been made more accessible through the MySejahtera application, which recorded more than 16,000 new sign-ups as of July. – Bernama
