DUNDEE KZN: Save up to seven lives by becoming an organ donor

The Organ Donor Foundation is looking to build an organ donor registry in a bid to save more lives, and you can play your part by signing up.

Signing up as an organ donor is quick, easy and there’s no cost involved.

Any person who is in good health can be considered as a possible donor. Organ donors can save up to seven lives as well.

Your heart, liver and pancreas can save three lives, while your kidneys and lungs can save up to four people.

However, donations cannot go ahead without the consent of the donor’s family. Even as a registered donor, organs will not be taken upon one’s passing without the family providing the final consent.

The Organ Donor Foundation, therefore, urges donors to speak to their families about their wish to be an organ donor. You can also donate organs while alive, in one of two ways.

The first is between family members, because the blood groups and tissues are more compatible, which ensures a higher success rate.

The second is where both the donor and recipient are strangers and never know who the other person is. A kidney or partial liver can be donated when one is alive.

If you aren’t keen on donating organs, you can also consider becoming a tissue donor. Tissue donors can help up to 50 people just by donating their corneas, skin, bone, tendons and heart valves.

Those worried about costs related to donations need not fret.

The hospital or tissue bank will cover all medical expenses from the moment the family gives consent.

Organ donations also do not delay any funeral plans, nor is the body disfigured when organs are removed.

You can also select which organs you want donated when you die and there’s no obligation to donate all of your organs or tissues.

To become an organ donor, register at www.odf.org.za or call 0800 226611.

  
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