An “Organ Donation Awareness Panel” was held by the Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, within the scope of the 100th Anniversary of Our Republic and November 3-9 Organ Donation Week. At the opening of the panel, where valuable information about organ transplantation and donation was shared by experts on the subject, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences Prof. Dr. Arif Aktuğ Ertekin and Associate Head of the Department of Nursing Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nurcan Uysal emphasized the importance of raising awareness about organ donation.
Turkey has sufficient equipment for organ transplantation!
Dr. Hatice Demirdağ, a faculty member of the Department of Nursing and chair of the panel session, drew attention to the state of organ donation in our country and worldwide, and the importance of organ donation. She stated that Turkey has sufficient equipment for organ transplantation, but there are inadequacies in terms of organ donation. Demirdağ further stated that organ donation awareness should be increased throughout society, and this event supports that awareness.
Later in the meeting, Specialist Nurse Selda Urhan, Organ and Tissue Transplant Coordinator at Health Sciences University Sultan Abdülhamit Han Training and Research Hospital, delivered her speech on “Organ Donation and Its Importance.” In her speech, Urhan stated, “The most beautiful legacy you can leave is organ donation while you are alive. Every donated organ is a person clinging to life,” and drew attention to what organ transplantation means, its types, which organs and tissues can be transplanted in our country, and organ transplantation from living and cadaveric donors. Urhan also made evaluations in the context of the legal dimension of organ transplantation in Turkey, brain death and its causes, and the differences between brain death and a vegetative state, emphasizing who decides on brain death, the religious appropriateness of organ donation, and who can donate.
Among the panelists, Engin Kösem, Organ and Tissue Transplant Coordinator at Siyami Ersek Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital, delivered a speech titled “Organ Donation in Heart Transplantation.” Kösem stated that heart transplantation is sometimes the only solution for coronary artery, heart muscle, and heart valve diseases, that patients of all ages—infants, young, or elderly—may need heart transplantation, and the biggest problem in this regard is the inability to find organs, emphasizing that since heart transplantation can only be performed from cadaveric donors, organ donation is the only chance for patients awaiting heart transplantation.
Another speaker at the meeting, Specialist Nurse Azize Göktürk, Organ and Tissue Transplant Coordinator at Kartal Koşuyolu High Specialization Training and Research Hospital, in her speech titled “Organ Donation in Lung Transplantation,” stated that patients with respiratory failure and irreversible loss of lung function are candidates for lung transplantation, and that lung transplantation is performed in a limited number of centers in our country, that lung transplantation is not widely known in society, and therefore, lung donation rates are lower compared to other organs.
The final speaker of the panel was Ahmet Yücel, Organ and Tissue Transplant Coordinator at Haydarpaşa Numune Training and Research Hospital. Yücel made evaluations on “Organ Donation in Kidney Transplantation,” emphasizing that despite the relatively high survival rate after transplantation, the number of patients awaiting kidney transplantation is increasing daily in our country. Yücel stated that the majority of kidney transplants in our country are performed from living donors, and with an increase in organ donations, the number of patients awaiting kidney transplantation will significantly decrease.
The program, which addressed organ transplantation and organ donation, among the most vital topics in healthcare, concluded with the presentation of a certificate of appreciation by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sebahat Ateş, Vice Head of the Department of Nursing, and a group photo session.
