Ministry appeals for more organ donations
The Public Health Ministry has urged citizens to donate organs to help others, noting there are 5,851 people on a waiting list for organ transplants and 12,042 waiting for corneas.
The ministry aims to raise the ratio of the population giving consent to donate their own or their relatives’ internal organs if they become “brain-dead” to 0.4 per 100 people this year.
It wants to increase the ratio on consent to donate corneas to 1.2, said deputy permanent secretary Dr Marut Jirasetsiri.
Last year 670 people received donated organs other than kidneys, up from 512 the previous year, he said. The number who received kidneys, 543, was up from 414.
Nearly 1,100 people underwent corneal transplants last year.
Marut said the ministry would this year expand the number of organ and eye donation centres at hospitals. There are currently centres at 87 per cent of state hospitals, 54 per cent of general hospitals and seven at large community hospitals.
To establish organ harvesting teams in each health region, personnel in 11 regions had undergone training, he said.