One of the main reasons patients are dying in East Africa due to the lack of organs for transplants is the negative attitude surrounding the organ donation platform. It is true that ignorance is bliss but when are we going to be ignorant and allowing ourselves to die of issues that can be fixed. It kills me when I see my fellow country people traveling to India and other developed countries to go for major surgeries when our governments are spending billions just to equip our hospital and make sure our medical schools are up to standard.
An organ donation app provides quick and accurate information that is very vital in saving time and lives. This app gives information about, Eye Banks, Skin Banks, Organ Transplant Hospitals, and Body Donation.
Organ Donation is an important way of saving lives that needs to be highly embraced in East Africa. In countries such as France, Greece, Turkey, Norway, and Sweden have a well-organized organ donation system while Spain is widely considered the gold standard in organ donation because it has had the highest organ donation rate of any other country in the world, with 35.3 organ donors per million.
HOW IT WORKS
- Download the application on your smartphone
- Register on the app with basic details like name, contact details, email, and medical history, and information on the organ one would choose to donate. Users can sign up to donate multiple organs should they wish to do so. There is also an option called “any part of my body,” which users can select in case they are open to donating all parts of their body.
- Fill in details about the medical history of the donor.
- After the registration is complete, donor cards are given which makes them eligible to donate their organs. In case the situation arises when a person is declared brain dead or dies, his or her family can notify the heart foundation.
The app avoids the need to always carry a donor card with you and makes it more user-friendly.
While most organ and tissue donations occur after the donor has died, some organs (including kidney or part of a liver or lung) and tissues can be donated while the donor is alive.
The cabinet of Uganda has approved the Uganda Human Organ Donation and Tissue Transplant Bill 2020, the Minister for Information and ICT, Judith Nabakooba has said. The Bill seeks to establish a legal framework for human organs, cells, and tissue transplant in Uganda and also regulate donations and trade in human organs, cells, and tissue for safety and security for Ugandans.
Non-governmental organizations and civil society argue that there is an increase in illicit human organ trade in Africa, partly because of weak laws and enforcement, poverty, and human trafficking.
This organ donating app will transform the need and supply of organs around Uganda enabling those in need of organs to get them as urgently as possible, it will be like ordering for food online only you will be getting a life-changing “meal”.
It’s about time that we stop associating science with witchcraft and embrace a future where we do not have to travel out of the country just to get access to organs that can be provided at home.
In some of the developed countries, owning a motorcycle means you are an automatic organ donor since it has the highest rate of road accidents due to poor driving and lack of wearing helmets. In Uganda, most middle-class people are riding motorbikes every day and some of these riders are careless and do not observe traffic rules, if such a rule is introduced, riders will be more careful and even though their deaths could save a life following the traffic rules can save them making it a win-win solution.
The mortality rate needs to be reduced and it is important on educating the Emergency Response Teams on ways of making sure that they keep a brain-dead patient connected to the Ventilators as the organ donation teams prepare themselves.
But in a country where residents pay cash at hand to have access to a public ambulance the question on everyone’s mind is if this progress will make any difference. Will it is of any value to an individual to be an organ donor or will they be given the same neglective treatment as others.
In Kenya for example, being a frequent blood donor has its benefits as you and your immediate family get direct blood bank access in case the need arises and this has made blood donation in the country increase as more people are willing to be donors. The words “what you give is what you receive” couldn’t be any self-explanatory.
For an organ donation to take root in Uganda it has to be attached to a benefit or reward that the public can deem acceptable for the exchange. Like in the case of sperm donation where the donors get money, it is also important for the organ donors to have a special kind of benefit. We can bid goodbye to days when traveling abroad for organs is the norm if this is put in place then we.
This donor app will transform the medical health department of Uganda in a positive way and at a time when the world is not certain about the end of the availability of a vaccine for the deadly Coronavirus. It is of utmost importance that we find ways of making sure that the little resources we do have are saved for those in need.
BE THE CHANGE YOU ARE SEEKING.
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