TEHRAN –The national Organ Donation, Life Donation week kicked off on Tuesday and will wrap up on May 20.  

The health ministry has designated particular names for each day of the week as follows.  

Tuesday, May 14,  The importance of organ donation to save lives and improve the life quality 

Wednesday, May 15, Education, an effective component in raising public awareness about organ donation in cases of brain death

Thursday, May 16, Providing comprehensive information and promoting the culture of organ donation in cases of brain death

Friday, May 17,  Empowering and strengthening the collaborative approaches of governmental and non-governmental institutions towards organ donation and transplantation

Saturday, May 18, Organ donation coordinators are the main pillar of organ transplantation

Sunday, May 19, Transplant donor families are the most respectable people for their selfless act of sacrifice and forgiveness

Monday, May 20, The National Organ Donation, Life Donation Day

****Rise in organ donation

The number of organ donors in Iran increased from 7.8 per million population (PMP) in the year 1399 (March 2020-March 2021) to 12.2 in the year 1401 (March 2022-March 2023).

“In 1399, the number of organ donations in the country was 645, which reached 928 in 1400 and increased to 1,016 in 1401,” Amir-Hesam Alirezaei, the head of the Health Ministry's Center for Transplantation and Disease Management, said.

“Currently, 30 kidney transplant centers, 11 liver transplant centers, 3 lung transplant centers, 4 pancreas transplant centers, 18 bone marrow transplant centers, 22 procurement centers, and 35 transplant identification centers are active in the country,” he explained.

With 40,095 cases, kidney transplant has had the highest number of transplants in the country, he noted.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 brain deaths occur annually in the country, he said, adding that 2,500 to 4,000 cases of brain deaths are eligible for organ transplantation, and there are 18,000 patients in need of receiving organs in the country, and more than 1,410 cases of organ donation were done last year, he concluded.

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.

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.

Organ donation is an altruistic decision that can be made by 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 is still a serious problem in the world.

Iran tops Asian countries in organ donation

Mehdi Shadnoush, former 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, while Iran ranked 26 in organ donation in the world.

MT/MG