NOURNEWS: Picture this. Every year, between 16,000 to 20,000 people die in road accidents in Iran, a country with a population of 88 million. Additionally, about 5,000 to 8,000 brain deaths occur annually, of which 3,000 are eligible for organ donations. However, only about 1,000 organs are donated each year in the country.
Every brain-dead person can donate 8 organs. This means that between 6,000 to 8,000 healthy organs that could save patients suffering from organ failures are buried each year. Organ donation is a humanitarian and God-loving act, honoring those who give meaning to the culture of dedication through their actions. The names of those who donated their organs will always remain alive in people's minds.
This culture has been thriving among Iranian families for years, and now Iran ranks first in Asia and the World of Islam in this regard. Asal and Elnaz, 9 and 11, could return to life after receiving heart transplants from two patients who had been declared brain dead.
“Early last year, I was diagnosed with the disease. Several times I felt sick at school and was taken to the doctor. It was unclear why I was suffering from low blood pressure and shortness of breath. After lab tests, doctors found that only 20 percent of my heart was working, while 80 percent of its muscles had failed,” Elnaz told Nournews in an interview.
“I became a candidate to receive a heart and every day I had been waiting for a call from the hospital. It was a difficult wait. After 8 months, they called me and informed me of a suitable heart from a teenager from one of the southern cities that had been transferred to Tehran. Heart transplant surgery was carried out, and currently, I am living without medical assistance and attending school.”
“I do not know the family of that boy, but I promise them to be a good trustee. My whole family and I are candidates for organ donation and want our organs to be donated to patients after our death.”
Fatwa of Imam Khomeini and the day of organ donation in the Iranian calendar
On May 20, 1989, organ transplants from brain-dead patients were described as religiously legitimate by Imam Khomeini. The fatwa was declared two weeks before the demise of Imam Khomeini. So, May 20 is observed as the day of organ donation in the Iranian calendar. However, it took 11 years for the fatwa to be ratified as law in Iran’s parliament.
As a result, from the year 2006, organ donation departments were formed in medical universities. Prior to that, in 1991, the primary team had been formed and the first organ donation surgery from a brain-dead person happened in the same year. Two years later, the first kidney and liver surgeries were also carried out, and in 2005, the first lung surgery and in 2006, the first pancreas transplant surgery occurred.
Dr. Omid Qobadi, the deputy head of the Iranian Organ Donation Association, told Nournews, “When we began, the index of organ donation was 0.02 percent for every 1 million in a year. Today, after 23 years, the index of organ transplant has reached 12.2 percent. However, the figure stood at 14.3 percent prior to Covid-19 but reached 7 percent during the pandemic. We could return to life about 70,000 patients in need of organ transplants with the consent of 10,000 families who had either lost their children or spouses over the past years. The rate of organ transplant success has shifted from 6 to 70 percent over the past years as well.”
Qobadi noted that “scientific studies show medical science plays a 20 percent role in saving the lives of patients, with structures having a 30 percent role. However, culture plays a 50 percent role, which means media and people have a greater role in promoting this culture.”
Brain death is the end of life
About 25,000 patients are on the waiting list to receive organs, and every day between 7-10 patients hoping to receive organs from brain-dead people lose their lives because of delays. One of the most important reasons is that their families do not consent because they do not accept brain death as the end of life.
About 47,000 dialysis patients are living in the country and 5 times that figure are those living with kidney failure that can get rid of dialysis if they receive a kidney. About 12,000 Iranians die every day because of liver failure and 8 percent are suffering from heart complications.
Dr. Katayoun Najafi, the head of the Iranian Organ Donation Organization, said that “Still many people in our country do not know that a person declared brain-dead has actually died and will not come back to life again. They think because their loved one is breathing with assistance, they are still alive.”
“When the brain falls to death because of disease or accident, it never becomes alive again, and the organs of the dead person will deteriorate after a short time, which deprives us of using the golden time of organ transplant.”
A card for donating life
By the middle of last Iranian year, about 8 million people had received organ donation cards in Iran.
“Receiving the card helps a lot in getting the consents of the families,” said Dr. Najafi, adding that however, the consent of families is still important, which means if families do not announce their consent, the surgery is not allowed.
She explained that about 100 percent of families who know their loved one wanted his/her organs to be donated after death give their consent. Currently, Neishabur in Khorasan Razavi province has the highest rate of donation (41 percent) in the country, followed by Fasa (40.9 percent) and Yazd (35.4 percent).
Last Iranian year marked the highest number of donations and the rate of family consent increased from 1,000 to 1,200 people, according to the official responsible for organ donation in the Health Ministry. If the statistics double, the waiting list will become zero.
NOURNEWS