DAVAO CITY - More efforts are needed to make the public aware on organ donations particularly on deceased organ donations.

Dr. Maria Therese Bad-ang, nephrologist and head of the Southern Philippine Medical Center Human Advocate and Retrieval Effort (SHARE) said they are pushing for deceased organ donations as they are trying to stop the buying of kidneys from living persons.

“During the pandemic we are receiving so many messages in our Facebook accounts telling us that they want to sell their kidneys, but we know it is illegal we cannot sell our kidneys,” Bad-ang said.

She said they have already identified 300 possible donors in SPMC which are considered as brain dead patients.

“The public has to know that brain dead is dead, when you are brain dead you are legally dead and you can donate your organs as long as your family will agree upon it,” Bad-ang said.

She said that even if these patients have organ donor cards, the agreement from family members is still needed for the organ donation.

“It is very important if you sign your organ donor card or the LTO (Land Transportation Office) license that you agree to donate your organs, your family has to know,” Bad-ang said.

She said that efforts must be made to open the minds of Filipinos on organ donation.

Based on national data the country currently has 14 deceased donors this year (successful retrieval or donated organs) but the World Health Organization pegs an ideal ratio of 10 per million population of donors or an estimated 1,100 deceased donors.

“In Davao City we didn’t have a single retrieval it’s not because we are not generous it’s just we are not informed or the public does not understand quite well the benefit of donation,” Bad-ang said. (PIA/RG Alama)