TEHRAN – Organ donation has increased by 30 percent over the past month (June 22-July 22) compared to the same period last year, Saeed Karimi, deputy minister of health, has said.

Over the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 21, donating organs has raised by 20 percent compared to the same period last year, he noted, IRNA reported on Thursday.

So, over the past four months, 356 people donated organs, which has increased significantly, he stated, adding,  last year, the organ donation ratio per million people was 12.8, while at the same time in 1399 (March 2020-2021) and 1400 (March 2021-2022), it was recorded 5.4 and 10.2, respectively.

A total of 356 people donated organs over the past four months, a significant rise compared with the same period last year.According to the Iranian Society of Organ Donation, there are two types of death in the medical world; Heart death (common death), which accounts for 99 percent of deaths worldwide, and brain death, which accounts for one percent of deaths.

In Iran, about 5,000 to 8,000 people die each year from brain death, half of whom, or about 3,000, have transplanted organs. Unfortunately, 1,000 families, or one-third, are satisfied with organ donation.

However, there are over 25,000 patients in need of transplants on the waiting lists for various organs, but unfortunately, 7 to 10 of them die every day due to the lack of a transplanted organ, accounting for over 3,000 a year.

Considering that 7,000 transplant recipients are buried annually due to family dissatisfaction and 3,000 needy patients die, on the other hand, it can be considered that if only half of the buried organs could save the lives of all.

Organ donation is an altruistic decision that can be made by the family members after brain death. Although many organizations and medical centers have implemented various interventions and training courses to increase satisfaction with organ donation, a lack of organs for donation still is a serious problem in the world.

Iran tops Asian countries in organ donation

Mehdi Shadnoush, head of the Health Ministry's center for transplantation and disease management, announced in June 2020 that Iran is ranked first for organ donation among Asian countries.

“The country’s organ donation rate is 14.34 per one million people,” he noted.

In February 2019, Shadnoush said that the organ donation rate has increased by 60 times over the past 18 years. Although Iran ranks 26 in organ donation in the world.

Organ donation of brain death has reached up to 60 percent, he said, lamenting that the country ranks 21st regarding organ donation from brain dead patients in the world while ranking 14th regarding organ transplant from alive patients.

According to the figures revealed by the International Registry in Organ Donation and Transplantation (IRODaT), Spain leads the world in organ donation.

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