Khaled Al-Belahi Okaz/Saudi Gazette DAMMAM — The Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation (SCOT) discovered 60 cases of organ trade in the Kingdom's 15 centers for organ transplants, said Dr. Zaid Ibrahim, a coordinator at SCOT. He said the government grants SR50, 000 in cash for donors or their survivors but that sometimes there are clandestine agreements in this regard. There is a specialized committee that exposes such agreements by evaluating the donor and recipient twice to make sure they both fulfill the set conditions. ?Organ donation has significantly been increasing with 530 kidney transplants at the Kingdom's various centers last year. At least 91 liver transplants were done at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. ?Dr. Ibrahim said there are two types of organ donors — deceased donors and live donors. Most of the time, the kidney from living donor works immediately and continues to work better and longer than the kidney from a deceased donor. ?He said in every center there is a committee tasked with assessing the donor and recipient. There are conditions for donors, which stipulate that they should be over 14 years and free from infectious and viral diseases.?In a related development, more than 3,000 visitors participated in the activities of the World Day for Organ Donation, which is observed this year under the motto of “Let's Together Plant Hope”. The Saudi Charitable Society for Activating Organ Donation “Ethar” in conjunction with the Health Educational Department at King Fahd Specialist Hospital in Dammam participated in the activity. Dr. Shadi Anees, Ethar's Medical Director, said the society's activities varied between education and awareness. He added that a medical scanning device which is the first of its kind in the Kingdom was used during the activity. He said the device automatically scans the visitors and within a second can decide whether a person is vulnerable to cardiac and renal diseases or diabetes. This serves as a warning for those scanned to take preventive measures.
