Almost 1 billion people in the world awaiting an organ donor

The Cyprus International University (CIU) School of Health Sciences, Dialysis Technician Associate Degree Program Coordinator Dr. İpek Nurdan Dikmen, spoke within the scope of Organ Donation Week during 3-9 November, stating that if organ transplantation was not to be performed in the world, about 1 billion people’s lives would be in mortal danger.

Explaining that organ donation is the use of tissues and organs for the treatment of other patients, which the donor commits to when they are alive, for their use after their medical lives end, Dr. Dikmen said that with organ donation, a blind person can sometimes see, or it can be defined as the return back to normal life for a kidney disease patient who spends their life connected to a dialysis machine.

Dr. Dikmen, reminding that the number of patients suffering from organ failure is increasing every day in the TRNC, stated that patients with organ failure sometimes lose their lives by waiting for many years due to lack of organ donations.

Drawing attention to the importance of organ donation in order to give these patients a chance to live, and to increase their quality of life, Dr. Dikmen explained that following the organ transplant law passed in the TRNC in 2015, that 45 kidney transplants, including 28 from cadavers and 17 from living donors and 2 heart transplants were performed at the Dr. Burhan Nalbantoğlu State Hospital.

Dr. Dikmen stated that there are around 250 dialysis patients in our country, with the list of patients waiting for organs is updated daily.

Stating that it is possible for those who want to donate organs to obtain donation forms from Famagusta, Nicosia and Kyrenia hospitals and the Secretariat of the Coordination Board, Dr. Dikmen stated that the forms can also be accessed from the website of the Ministry of Health.

Dikmen said that the donors can get their Organ Donor cards from the same locations they make their applications at once they submit their application forms and ID photocopy, and said, "An individual must be 18 years of age or older and be in good mental health in order to donate organs."

Noting that each individual in the society has an important duty to increasings organ donation, Dikmen said, "Organs should not be put under the ground, but should be donated to people who are waiting with hope. In short, they should be donated to ‘life’".