Organ Donation in Malaysia

[kfyh2]

Malaysia's official organ donation website, sponsored by Institut Jantung Negara (The National Heart Institute).

Those in KL/PJ: there will also be an organ donation campaign this Sunday, 28 Nov at Sunway Pyramid. More details on the website.

Come along to find out more or show your support!

Any queries, check the website / email me at karen81@<hidden>

Pls note that the website is still work-in-progress, but constructive suggestions are always welcomed...

[masterof_none]

I just check out the site, it is pretty cool.

http://www.organdonation.com.my/

For those who want some info about organ donation, email Karen.
Also, for those who want to donate their organs, please check out the site. (there are events coming soon)

[jiinjoo]

I like the "Religious Viewpoints" part - it is very revealing, as our nation continue to live under misguided religious thoughts. This sentence caught my eye:

Thus, Muslim jurists allow the use of non-permissible materials in medicine if it is deemed indispensable for cure and prescribe by a competent Muslim physician.
Who's the competent Muslim physician? I mean who decides whether he or she is competent enough to decide or is there some official document that says what is non-permissable materials in medicine? Don't tell me the Quran has all this detail...

Robert's poem is really inspiring.

[jiinjoo]

Plagarize a bit to have more people read this:


To Remember Me - I Will Live Forever
Robert N Test

The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital; busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.

When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.

- Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.

- Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.

- Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.

- Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.

- Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.

- Explore every corner of my brain.

- Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.

- Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.

- If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.

- Give my sins to the devil.

- Give my soul to God.

If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.


Source ( http://www.organdonation.com.my/greenribbon.asp )

[chenchow]

One thing I find about the statistics is that the number of people volunteer to donate organs have dropped gradually in the past few years. What do you guys think are the reasons?

Just curious, any ReComers who have signed up as a donor?

[kfyh2]

According to the people in IJN, the surge in 2000 was due to a massive campaign by the govt then.

However, the effort died down (not to mention the funding) and pledges tailed off.

Hence, this is a renewed effort to get things up a bit. The support is there in terms of a special task force in Hospital KL and things like a toll free line. But the main campaign lacks MARKETING.

So, we hope to get the website going and publicising it through various websites like this and by word-of-mouth. There are lots to be done on it, but this is a start...

You guys out there, feel free to let your friends and family know about www.organdonation.com.my. Even better, slip a link in through your own website! Thanks very much!

Any other questions, feel free to ask!

[chenchow]

Hi Karen,

Mind share with us your involvements with IJN in this Organ Donation Campaign. May be through your sharing, you could help inspire more Malaysians towards donating their organ.

[kfyh2]

Hi Chenchow,

Sure, would be happy to share. I organised an organ donation (OD) campaign while in A-levels. The matter was apparent. People have probably heard about it, but have no clue what exactly it is, or where to get more info about it.

I got in touch with IJN after reading a random newspaper article. From then on, the person in charge there, Sister Ramayee, provided the necessary info, materials, etc for the campaign. She was really helpful and dedicated to her job, and I remembered her as that.

After A-Levels, I designed an OD website (which remains unknown as the new one is a million times better!). At uni, a very kind friend offered to work together and relaunch the website. This summer, we approached IJN to sponsor the website and hence, the new website is up and running now.

Basically our aim is simple - provide accurate info to those who want it easily (ie: educate). Convincing one to pledge their organs for donation isn't simple and we don't expect everyone to start pledging after reading some bits on the site. All we can do is make the info available.

The problem the OD task force in the hospitals face is that bringing up an issue such as OD during a time of loss is extremely difficult, esp to those who have not heard about it. Thus, if the public was more aware of this issue and it's benefits and risks, it could open more options that were previously unavailable.

Karen.