Muscat – A total of 17 kidney transplant operations were performed and over 11,000 donors registered on Oman’s Shifa app for organ donation this year, the Ministry of Health has announced.

The announcement was made at an event held on Tuesday to celebrate Oman Organ Donation Day in commemoration of the first organ transplant in the sultanate performed on December 19, 1988.

The event was held at Hormuz Grand Muscat under the auspices of H H Sayyid Kamil bin Fahd al Said, Secretary-General of Council of Ministers, in the presence of several senior officials, including undersecretaries, in addition to participation of civilian and military medical institutions and medical professionals from Oman’s health sector.

The celebration marked a continuation of the efforts of the Ministry of Health, represented by the National Organ Transplant Programme Department, to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation through a national campaign activated in all governorates this year, in addition to developing organ transplant services.

The national campaign’s message to the community highlights the fact that besides being a
generous and humanitarian act, organ donation is the only solution in cases of organ failure and certain ailments from which millions of patients suffer worldwide.

The ceremony included a presentation by Dr Ahmed al Busaidi, Director of National Organ Transplant Programme Department, who spoke on the accomplishments during the year, especially the increase in number of kidney transplant operations, the beginning of a corneal transplant programme, and a significant increase in the number of registrations on the Shifa app for post-mortem organ donation.

Additionally, several organ donors and relatives of posthumous organ donors were honored at the event. A three-day organ donation training course was also launched in cooperation with Donation Transplantation Institute, Spain.

The Ministry of Health has a programme enabling prospective donors to express their interest to donate organs after death by registering on the Shifa app. This year, a programme was activated to interview relatives of brain-dead patients offering them the option of donating organs after death and performing transplantation for eligible organ failure patients on the national waiting list.

The Shifa app for organ donation, which was launched in December 2021, helps provide accurate information about organ transplant and encourages a culture of organ donation in the sultanate.

In an effort to establish guidelines for transplantation of human organs and tissues, the ministry issued a decision in March 2021 to develop a national programme to regulate human organ and tissue donations.

Since 1988, 347 organ transplant surgeries have been performed in the sultanate, of which 325 were kidney transplants and 22 liver transplants.