Organ shortage is a major concern in many countries. The objective of this paper was to investigate the factors that contribute to the low quantity of organ donation in Malaysia. The 1311 respondents in this survey came from the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia (Malay, Chinese and Indian). The survey was based on these components: The reason for not pledging to become a donor; the reason of refusing to become a donor; and whether non-fungible incentive would influence decision. The lack of information and trust were the factors that influenced the respondents to remain apathetic to organ donation. The results denote that people are unlikely to become a donor even if non-fungible incentive were provided to them. Thus, it is important for the government bodies to evaluate the programme and strategies of public education in relation to organ donation.
Introduction:
Living donation is an important source for organs transplantation in Malaysia. This study aims to investigate
the Malaysian living donors’ follow-up attendance, their preferences on medical-institutional facilities, and
the financial circumstances pertaining to the follow-up costs
Materials and Methods:
Primary data were collected through a survey of 80 living donors who made their donation at the University
of Malaya Medical Center (UMMC) between 1991 and 2012.
Results:
Out total of 178 donors, only 111 were reachable and 80 of them participated in the survey (72%). The findings
revealed that most of the donors (71.2%) attend the follow-up regularly. Nevertheless, donors seem to neglect
the importance of follow-up as they consider themselves healthy (28.9%) or consider the follow-up as being
troublesome (28.9%). Most donors (67.5%) are not in favour of being treated as patients, but prefer to be
monitored under donor registry (88.8%) and getting their health service in special clinics for donors (80%).
The majority of the donors fund the follow-up costs themselves (32.4%), while 25% of the donors’ follow-up
costs were funded by family members. Among those donors without income and those of low-income (84.8%
of respondents), 60.3% believe that the follow-up costs should be borne by the government.
Conclusions:
Based on the findings, it is therefore suggested that the government provides all living donors with proper
free health service through donor registry and donor clinics. Adequate care has to be given to the donors to
pre-empt any unforeseen health complications due to the organ donation surgical procedures.