ID cards and driving licenses issued in the Kingdom will note whether or not individuals wish to donate their vital organs upon their death, if a new system under consideration by the Ministry of Interior in collaboration with the relevant government agencies is put into effect, Dr. Faisal Shaheen, Director of the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation (SCOT) told the Saudi Gazette Thursday. SCOT has formed a committee to discuss the issue based on the instructions of the Council of Ministers, Dr. Shaheen said. He said that the committee, which has members from SCOT, Interior Ministry, Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Passports Department and Civil Defense, is studying the issue. Once the study is complete, the final draft will be submitted for approval to the government, he said. Dr. Shaheen said more than three million people in the Kingdom have signed organ donation cards and he stressed the importance of benefiting from patients who die in ICU who represent 14 percent of all those who die in the Kingdom's hospitals. He expects that about 600 kidneys will be transplanted to patients suffering from renal failure this year compared to 300 kidney transplant operations conducted last year, which he said was tangible progress even though renal patients in the Kingdom need 1,200 kidneys yearly. He added that he hoped that the new procedure regarding ID cards and driving licenses would help to increase the number of donors and alleviate the suffering of patients. The government's move to encourage citizens and expatriates to donate organs has received the endorsement of the Charitable Foundation for Promoting Organ Donation (CFPOD). “This is a laudable move which should be supported by the people,” said Dr. Basem Futa, member of the executive board of the (CFPOD). This year the foundation will be launching a Kingdom-wide awareness campaign urging people to register in the organ donation initiative, Futa said. Awareness of the importance of organ donation is already gaining acceptance. Recently, the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Bahrain and the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation in Riyadh signed a mutual agreement promoting organ transplant between the two neighboring Gulf countries. __
