The Organ Donation programme is one of the three beneficiaries of Miri Hospital Run 2017, which will be held on April 9, 2017. Other beneficiaries are Breast Cancer Support Group and Hospital Volunteer Programme.
MIRI: Miri Hospital Transplant Organ Procurement (TOP) Team aims to get as many organ pledgers as possible this year.
According to Miri Hospital TOP Team coordinator Dr Nadiya Hamzah, based on their record, as of now 937 people had pledged to be organ donors.
“It was even greater when two transplants were successfully done in 2015 and 2016 respectively. The first organ and tissues transplant was done in March 2015 whilst the second transplant was done last April.
“We hope to have more organ and/or tissue donors this year as more people are aware of the importance of organ donation in improving the quality of life,” Dr Nadiya pointed out.
Miri Hospital TOP Team was established in June 2013 and has been actively involved in organ donation awareness programmes from 2014 onwards.
Led by Miri Hospital director Dr Jack Wong and chaired by head of Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Dr Norhuzaimah Julai @ Julaihi, the team organises activities that focus on promoting organ donation, which is still a topic of taboo amongst Malaysians.
Among the activities that have been carried out by the TOP team are Organ Donation Awareness Campaign and Organ Donation Radiotalk. It also collaborated with various associations including educational and religious centres to organise organ donation awareness talks during charity events.
Organ donation is a process of donating a person’s organs and tissues to be transplanted into someone who, in many cases, are very ill or dying. It is a medical procedure involving replacement of a terminally damaged organ and/or tissues with a healthy one from a donor, which has been proven to save lives and significantly improve quality of life.
In Malaysia, organ donation began in the early 70s under National Transplant Resource Centre and the Ministry of Health. It is an ‘Op-in-Law’ whereby expressed consent is required and transplant surgery can only be done at government hospitals/medical institutions.
The organs that can be donated in Malaysia include heart, lungs, liver, kidney and tissues – eyes/cornea, heart valve, bones and skin.
In line with the National Organ Donation Awareness month, which happens in October every year, an ‘Organ Donation Street Campaign – Let’s Talk’ will be held again this year, following last year’s success.
The Organ Donation programme is one of the three beneficiaries of Miri Hospital Run 2017 which will be held this April 9.
Those interested to register for the Miri Hospital Run can do so now by obtaining the form from Share Tea (Boulevard), Bulatan Park Canteen or Hospital Miri admin office, or register online at http://bulatanparkrunnersclub.com/mbr before its closing date on March 6, 2017.
The run will have seven categories – Men’s Open (11km), Women’s Open (11km), Men Veteran (11km), Women Veteran (11km), Family Kid-Boys (4km), Family Kid-Girls (4km) and Fun Run (4km).