The Royal Hospital (RH) with the support of the Sohar Aluminum Company (SA) launched today (Sunday) the Awareness Application for Body Organs Donation under the auspices of H.E. Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Saidi, Minister of Health at the RH’s Auditorium. The launching ceremony was attended by number of MOH’s senior officials along with mass participation of various medical staff.

The electronic application was launched to instill the culture of organ donation among the society members and raise their awareness about this important topic by providing them with information, data and expert opinions.

The application aims at defining the mechanism for organ donation in the Sultanate of Oman, highlighting the consequences of trade in human organs, as well correcting the misperceptions of post-mortem organ donation, and confirming conditions of relatives’ donation. It is further providing community with all medical information on liver and kidney transplantation, and answering recurring inquires related to children, adolescents, pregnant and nursing mothers.

H.E. the Minister of Health stated during the event that this awareness electronic application is the first of its kind in the Sultanate and in the Arab world for organ donation, adding that one brain dead donor can save the life of eight other people. He urges all citizens and residents to be familiarized with the application and register in the “Shifa” application for posthumous organ donation.

Al Saidi affirmed the Ministry’s endeavor to enhance the quality of life through organ transplantation by the cooperation of all member of society, thus advancing the medical services in the Sultanate of Oman. 

Dr. Nevine Al-Kalbani, Head of Organ Donation Department at the Royal Hospital said that this service health application targets all society members. It educates the donor about the types and stages of donation and raising the awareness of patients about the organ transplantation operations conducted at the Royal Hospital and the health care provided after the operations. Additionally, the application encourages the society members to donate their organs as a manifestation of social solidarity and educates the society about the Islamic Sharia’s view towards organ donation.

Al-Kalbani added “We hope that this new application will help in increasing the number of organ donors to meet the increasing demand on donated organs received by health institutions in the Sultanate of Oman.”

Representatives of SA at the launching ceremony confirmed that the company takes pride in supporting this awareness electronic application, the first of its kind in the Sultanate and the region for organ donation. They explained that this move emphasizes SA’s constant commitment towards its social responsibility and its support for the issues, initiatives and projects that serve all segments of the society guided by the Royal directives of HM Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, may Allah keep and protect Him, and in line with the objectives and aspirations of Oman Vision 2040.

At the end of the event, the Health Minister valued the efforts exerted in the field of organ transplantation and honored all authorities that made this work a success. 

It is worth noting that this application has been launched as an extension of the previous campaign organized by the Ministry of Health to raise the awareness of the society members and urge them to donate their organs. This campaign has resulted in increasing the number of persons who registered in the “Shifa” application for posthumous organ donation. Since its launch in December 2021, (17) kidney transplantation surgeries from brain dead donors have been performed at the Royal Hospital and Sultan Qaboos University Hospital. Additionally, (300) kidney transplantation surgeries from living relative donors and (13) liver transplantation surgeries from living donors in the Sultanate have been conducted so far.