Driving licenses may have organ donor data

JEDDAH: A full session of the Shoura Council is expected to discuss a proposal Monday on whether to ask the government to have drivers’ licenses showing whether the person wants to donate his organs.
The proposal has been submitted by the Shoura’s security committee, which had endorsed the plan introduced by members Abdulrahman Al-Swailem, Issa Al-Ghaith and Tariq Fadaq.
The committee, in its report, stated that there is no Islamic law preventing anyone from donating their organs. The Council of Senior Scholars had approved organ donation in a religious edict issued 34 years ago, it stated.
The report included case studies of brain dead people who had given permission while they were living for their organs to be donated. There was also an appeal including from the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation highlighting the need for more donors.
The report stated that there was a significant risk for patients if they go overseas for organ transplants.
Most people who had done so had returned with health problems, including their bodies rejecting the transplanted organs, the report claimed.
The transplant center, according to the report, called on government and non-government agencies and charities to support organ donation by launching awareness campaigns on the benefits.
It stated that people should be made aware that if a person is declared brain dead, then this means that the person is deceased under the law.
There should also be greater awareness created about the increasing problem of kidney failure in the country, it stated.