QUEZON CITY (PIA) — The National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) conducted its 2nd Transplant Coordinator Conference on June 8-9, 2023 in Quezon City.

The full-packed workshop conference aims to empower Transplant Coordinators (TC) and provide updates on the legal and ethical ways of deceased donor management in the Philippines.

Aside from the legal references that authorize the legacy or donation of all or part of the human body after death in the country, the resource speakers also presented the proper identification of potential organs and tissue donors including their retrieval process.

The process of Organ Donation as dicussed includes identification of possible donor; determination of brain death; communication to the family for possible organ donations and securing consents; screening tests and organ allocation.

One of the highlights of the conference is securing informed consent to execute a donation. Unless a legacy from the donor or an informed consent from the next of kin upon the death of the donor is secured there will be no donation.

However, in the absence of any of the aforementioned and in the absence of any document of organ donation, the physician in charge of the patient, the head of the hospital, or a designated officer of the hospital whom custody of the body of the deceased classified as an accident, trauma, or other medico-legal cases, may authorize in a public document the removal from such body for the purpose of transplantation of the organ to the body of a living person. Provided that it has exerted reasonable efforts, within forty-eight (48) hours, to locate the nearest relative or guardian of the decedent at the time of death.

Every session was followed by an open forum to facilitate the exchange of information, share best practices, and discuss issues being encountered in the field.

This conference upskills TCs on how to manage deceased organ donations as well as how to better communicate with the donor and/or family of the donor.

For more details about organ donation in the country, visit www.facebook.com/hopenkti (KSAA - PIA CPSD)