NATIONAL DONOR DAY

Dr. Rowena Eadie
Specialist Family Medicine Dubai

National Donor Day, celebrated on 14th February, is an occasion to honour those who have donated organs and thereby transformed the lives of the recipients. It is also an opportunity to raise awareness of the live-saving benefits of five different types of donation – Organs, Tissues, Marrow, Platelets, and Blood - and encourage others to sign up for donation.

Organ donors can help to save the life of someone suffering from a life threatening illness or someone who was in a serious accident.
The organ transplant law was introduced in the UAE in 2016 and since then, doctors have been encouraging people to register and pledge to donate their organs in the event of their death.

The organs currently harvested (collected) in the UAE are heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas. Living donation is also possible. This is when healthy people choose to donate an organ or tissue to someone who needs a transplant.

Donating blood or blood products is a way to make a valuable contribution to society and help to save lives. Each unit of blood donated may help as many as 3 to 4 patients in need.

Most healthy people between the ages of 18-65 are eligible to donate blood. Whole blood donations can be made every 8 weeks. Dubai Blood Donation Centre website has more information on how to become a blood donor.