The Ministry of Health has launched an awareness campaign to educate the community about the importance of organ donation under the hashtag "#they_need you" (in Arabic #هم_بحاجتك). In addition to a movie posted yesterday on its Twitter's account titled "Great Saving Story", the campaign features many awareness materials. It urged those wishing to donate to register with the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation.
It is noteworthy that organ donors may be living or brain dead. In some cases organ donation is the only hope for saving other persons' lives. Organ donation can be for all ages since the healthy organ is more important than the age. If the donor is alive, he must be at least 18 years of age and is physically healthy and psychologically stable. If he is brain dead, doctors shall determine whether his organs are suitable for transplantation or not. The decision to take an organ form a donor to recipient is based on strict and precise medical standards. Organs that can be donated are: the kidney, heart, liver, pancreas and lungs. While the tissues that can be donated include: cornea, heart valves, skin, bone marrow and tendons. In fact, there are some organs that are useless such as the brain. According to statistics, a patient dies every 6 hours waiting for a transplant, and more than 17,000 people are on the waiting list.