The Kurdistan Body Donors Organization (KBDO), a group that works in coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), says almost a thousand people have registered as organ donors since it was established six years ago.
However, under current KRG law, two signatures are required before organs can be taken – one from the donor and one from their family.
Those who wish to register “must have two pledges signed, one by themselves and the other by their family members,” KBDO head Farhad Qadir told Rudaw on Thursday.
“Those who want to donate organs cannot become a member of ours without the consent of their families.”
A bill is currently going through the KRG parliament that could give doctors the power to veto the family’s wishes in favor of the donor’s pledge. MPs could pass the bill as early as next week.
Even if more people register as donors, the Kurdistan Region’s public health system still lacks the medical facilities to carry out complex and costly transplant procedures.
Plans to establish such a facility in Sulaimani were shelved when the financial crisis struck in 2014.
“The foundation of a 100 bed hospital designed for donations in the Qirga area of Sulaimani was laid. But the economic crisis prevented the project from finishing,” Qadir said.
“Since our foundation, two individuals who had registered their names with us [for organ transplants] have died,” he said, attributing their deaths to a lack of private hospital facilities.
“A private hospital would allow us to transfer many organs to those in need, including kidneys, the heart, [and] liver,” he said.
Boosting the number of donors could also help medical students at the Region’s universities learn more about human anatomy.
According to Qadir, the majority of their registered organ donors are women. Several of them are live donors, who have offered one of their kidneys to help a patient in need.
“So far, three people have donated their kidneys and one of them was a woman from our organization,” he said.
Mulla Ata Penjweni, 45, told Rudaw English it was thanks to a KBDO donor that doctors were able to save his relative’s life.
“A woman, who was my relative, lost her both kidneys. And a lady who was a member of our organization expressed willingness to donate a kidney to her and thankfully the health of both of them is now stable and good,” Penjweni said.
So what motivates people to become donors?
“At some point in life you understand that the community needs you,” Adnan Omer, 42, a teacher from Sulaimani, told Rudaw English. “Instead of trafficking human bodies, why not donate? What is the use for my body after death?”
