Parents refuse to honour children’s pledge after their deaths

Star, 15th May 2008

PENANG: Some parents are refusing to honour the pledge of their children who have agreed to donate their organs upon their death.

This is one reason for the low number of cadaveric donors (deceased donors) in the country.

Penang Hospital Nephrology Services head Datuk Dr Rozina Ghazalli said according to Health Ministry records, 112,300 Malaysians had pledged to donate their organs from 1997 till March 31 this year.

“However, the actual donors was only 214 from 1976 till March 31 this year,” she told The Star in an interview here on Tuesday.

Dr Rozina said some parents refused to allow doctors to remove the organs of their beloved ones because they were in doubt of the wishes of the deceased.

“Even if a person pledges his organs, his relatives are still required to give consent upon the donor’s death before the organs can be harvested,” she said.

Dr Rozina said another reason for poor organ harvest was the failure of doctors to explain to the family the meaning of “brain dead” – the patient is technically dead but the family members still want to hold on.

“In such instances, the doctors do not want to be seen as vultures waiting to get the deceased person’s organs or to be seen as not doing their best to save the patient’s life,” she said.

Dr Rozina said although all religions encourage the act of compassion to save lives, Muslims in particular were still reluctant to donate organs.

“They think it is disrespectful for the dead to be buried with organs missing although there is a fatwa which allows Muslims to donate their organs,” she said.

Dr Rozina pointed out that with the numerous campaigns organised by hospitals and the Tissue and Organ Procurement teams in the 16 government hospitals, the number of pledges by Muslims had increased from 2% in 1997 to 12% in 2007.

The highest number of actual donors were Chinese (52.4%), followed by Indians (26.6%) and Muslims (6.1%).

Those interested in becoming a donor can contact the National Transplant Resource Centre at Kuala Lumpur Hospital at 03-2615-6576 / 2694-2704 or the Transplant Resource Centre at Penang Hospital at 04-222-5780.

Health Ministry to test drive-through project at Penang Hospital soon

Star, 27th April 2008.

PETALING JAYA: Patients with chronic ailments may soon enjoy “drive through” facilities to collect their medication instead of having to wait at government hospital pharmacies.

Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said a pilot project would begin at the Penang Hospital in three months to study its feasibility.

The service, which would also operate after hours, would be enjoyed by those who suffered from illnesses like diabetes and hypertension.

“They will not have to come on their work day. They can get their medication after office hours or on weekends,” he said.

Ismail said the move was to make pharmacies at the hospitals less congested.

He said patients would be able to make a telephone call or send an SMS to the pharmacy ahead of making the collection.

“Right now, we do not give medication out every three or six months anymore. It is now on a monthly basis and patients have complained that this is inconvenient,” he said.

Furthermore, he said patients with chronic ailments would not need to see the doctor if it was merely repeating one’s medication.

Dr Ismail said “e-prescribing” – the computerisation of medicine prescriptions – had seen a decrease of the number of prescription errors.

The programme has been implemented at the Putrajaya, Selayang and Sungai Buloh hospitals.

Teaching hospitals like Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and University Malaya Medical Centre have also recognised the benefits of computerisation and e-prescribing, he said.

Ismail said there were now more pharmacists in government hospitals particularly after September 2005 when compulsory service for them was introduced.

By the end of last year, 78% of vacancies for U41 pharmacists had been filled. He said there were 2,288 pharmacists in the public sector.