According to the Ministry of Health’s October 2024 data; Across the country, 25 thousand 246 patients are waiting for kidney transplantation, 2 thousand 650 patients are waiting for liver transplantation and 1477 patients are waiting for heart transplantation. When patients waiting for other organ transplants such as lung and small intestine are added to the list, this number increases to 33 thousand 498. According to the Ministry’s data for the last 12 years, only 23 percent of more than 23 thousand people with brain death donated organs, while it is noteworthy that the annual number of donors has been recorded as only 300 since 2018. Experts emphasize that Turkey is far behind European countries in organ donation. So much so that, while the number of organ transplants in Europe is determined as 25 percent per million, the figure in Turkey is only 7.2 percent. While Izmir leads the list of provinces receiving the most voluntary donations, Istanbul ranks second.
NO CADAVER DONOR!
Evaluating the current table, General Surgery Specialist Prof. Dr. Hamdi Karakayalı, on the other hand, stated that considering the death rates on the waiting lists, the only way for these people to hold on to life is organ donation, and said: “Since cadaveric donations are extremely low, most organ transplants are made from living donors. “Based on 2024, 90 percent of kidney and liver transplants in our country will be from living donors.”
“One of the reasons for the low number of organ donations is insufficient information. Brain death means that a living person is considered medically dead and his other organs can only be kept alive for a short time with the support of machines in intensive care. Organ transplantation can only be done in this period. People who are over 18 years of age are physically and mentally healthy “Anyone who is alive can be an organ donor. However, in case of brain death, family approval is required.”
NECESSARY FOR THEIR LIVING
Faculty of Medicine Lecturer Assoc. Dr. Servet Karagül also pointed out the low number of organ donors and said, “Organs such as the liver, kidney and heart are of vital importance and in case they cannot perform the desired function, only organ transplantation can ensure the patient’s survival. Organ donation is the only way to regain health for such patients. For example A patient with end-stage liver failure can only return to healthy days with a liver transplant.. “Unfortunately, we are not at the point we would like in the number of donors,” he said.
ETHICS COMMITTEE IS EXAMINING
Stating that healthy people can donate organs while they are alive, Karagül said, “For example, they can donate part of their liver or a kidney to a relative. In our country, a patient who is related to the patient up to the fourth degree can become an organ donor. If there is no such relationship, then an ethics committee designated to decide on organ donation conducts an investigation. “If approval is received as a result of the review, the donation can be accepted,” he said.
Marrow Marrow TRANSPLANTATION IS THE ONLY COLUMN
Dr. Toluy Özgümüş (Internal Medicine Specialist)
“Bone marrow transplantation involves replacing the diseased bone marrow with the bone marrow of a healthy donor. The donor can be a family member or a compatible donor. When a suitable donor cannot be found, it is not possible to perform this life-saving procedure. For most patients, there is an alternative treatment that can replace this treatment. There is no. Being a bone marrow donor does not have any harm to the health of young healthy individuals. “The bone marrow cells taken are completely renewed by the body within a week to a month.”
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