KUALA LUMPUR: Organ transplants will be a national agenda, with the National Transplant Resource Centre as the central command body, to drive policy, governance and nationwide coordination, says the Health Minister.
Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (pic) said transplant activity remained far below national needs, despite strong clinical expertise, public sector infrastructure and the growing burden of end-stage organ failure.
He said these were driven by rising 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 previously operating under Hospital Kuala Lumpur.
“We are elevating the National Transplant Resource Centre to be directly under the purview of the ministry’s medical development division.
“This shifts it from being a ‘hospital unit’ to a ‘national command centre’ – giving it the mandate to drive policy nationwide,” he said in a post on X on Monday night.
Dzulkefly said while the ministry was realistic on challenges such as the long training period required to produce transplant specialists, immediate steps were being taken to optimise existing resources through strategic public-private and university hospital collaborations.
Among the key initiatives outlined is the groundwork for a National Transplant Council, which will function as the central authority for data and resource management.
He said the ministry was unlocking public-private partnerships by engaging experts from private and university hospitals to form a unified national procurement team.
On policy and regulatory reforms, Dzulkefly said the revision of the National Organ, Tissue and Cell Transplantation Policy 2007 was in its final stages to align with global standards, while a review of the Human Tissue Act 1974 was also under way to better protect living donors and streamline processes.
However, he said that structural reform alone would not be sufficient 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, the minister 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 2025.
