17 organ donations made this year: NTRC

GEORGE TOWN: Only 17 organ donations have been made nationwide so far this year, according to the latest statistics from the National Transplant Resource Centre.
This is a marked decrease as compared to the past two years, with 39 and 71 organ donations made for the whole of 2016 and 2015 respectively.
Penang's Transplant Resource Centre chairman Datuk Dr Zahari Noor said the plunge in number is despite of the high number of Malaysians who are pledged organ donors.
He said one of the main reasons leading to the decrease in organ donations in the country is family members being unaware that their deceased loved ones are pledged donors, hence disallowing doctors from carrying our the transplants.
"Most of the time, family members (are unaware about the arrangement), so the funerals are conducted as usual. And in Malaysia, family members still have a say over whether their organs can be donated.
"Hence, why there is a huge gap between pledgers and actual organ donors," Dr Zahari told reporters after attending the Fun Walk, held in conjunction with the state-level Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week, here, yesterday.
According to statistics, 393,221 Malaysians have pledged to donate their organs upon their deaths as of July 31.