Department of Health urges South Africans to consider organ donation

The Department of Health has appealed to members of the public to embrace the gift of life through organ donation, as the country joins the global community to commemorate the campaign to raise awareness about the significance of organ transplants and donations.

A number of people lose their lives due to the unavailability of organs that could save them, therefore this campaign aims to help people realise that volunteering to donate their organs while alive or after death can be life-changing for many other people.

The 2022 organ donation campaign is commemorated under the theme, “A life after mine”, which serves as a clarion call to South Africans to become lifesavers through organ donation.

Currently, South Africa has around 2 780 people waitlisted for organ donation and transplant which include kidney, liver, heart and lung, while about 189 people lost their lives while waiting for someone to gift them with a life-saving organ during the same period.

We don’t believe lack of organ donation or involvement has nothing to do with cultural and religious beliefs, but limited knowledge, hence the department has joined hands with stakeholders such as Organ Donation Foundation, including civil society organisations in the sector to raise and sustain awareness about this important campaign.

Anyone can volunteer to donate their organs once they reach 18 years of age. The two common forms of organ donation include live donations in which donors who are alive can donate organs like a kidney and a part of the liver because human beings can survive with one kidney and the liver is the only organ in the body that is known to regenerate over time.

Another form of organ donation is known as deceased donation which involves organ transplant to a living person from a consented donor who has passed on.

Organ donor volunteers can participate in this life-saving campaign by going to their nearest hospital to ask for assistance.