‘Lack of awareness poses major barrier to organ donation’

AMMAN — A lack of awareness and an absence of coordination are the major obstacles to organ donation, according to the Jordanian Society for the Promotion of Organ Donation.

The society was established under the presidency of Her Majesty Queen Rania and is currently chaired by HH Prince Raad, its deputy president, Ahmad Jamil Shaker Al Khanji, said.

“Our latest campaign was with the Senate where we made and published a short film regarding this matter,” he said.

“The society received 5,000 corneas, which were given to governmental hospitals for transplant for free. If we were to buy them from abroad instead, they would have cost about $7 million,” he said.

Organ donation is only allowed in cases of brain death, but even in these cases, donations are limited as many people remain hopeful for their loved ones who still have beating hearts, he said.

“Little do they know that a person suffering from brain death is considered to already have passed away,” he added.

However, Khanji said that there are also kidney donations form live donors, but these are strictly conserved for family members, otherwise “it can be considered as organ trade”.

Many people choose not to donate organs out of a misbelief that it is against religion despite the fact that the Grand Mufti of Jordan issued a fatwa (religious edict) stating that “organ donation is not only permitted but also encouraged by Islam”, Khanji noted. 

Some people believe that organ or cornea donation causes disfigurement to the donor, and “this is absolutely a misconception”, he said.

“At the current time, we have around 70,000 people registered to donate their organs when the time comes,” he said.

Khanji highlighted that it took the Friends of Jordan Eye Bank and Prevention of Blindness societies 10 years to be able to gather 5,000 corneas.

Moreover, he emphasised the importance of having a unified national registry for all people in need of organ donations.

Khanji also stressed the need for the Jordanian transplant centre of the Ministry of Health to be more strongly involved.

“The financial and administrative problems need to be solved by this centre, the society is doing all the work but the centre needs to also be a part of it, especially in cases of brain death, since the team of doctors that will be inspecting the cases will require a lot of money,” he added.