MUSCAT: Represented by the Omani Centre for Organ Transplant, the Ministry of Health on Thursday marked Oman Organ Donation Day, which falls on December 19 every year.
The event celebrates the values of donation and solidarity within Omani society. It complements the Health Ministry’s ongoing efforts to develop organ donation services and raise public awareness about the importance of donating organs during life or registering via the Shifa app for organ donation after death, in a bid to contribute to saving the lives of patients in need of such opportunities.
Dr Qasim bin Mohammed al Jahdhami, Head of the Organ Donation Department in the National Organ Transplant Programme, outlined key achievements of the programme which, he said, recently received more than 153 reports of “suspected brain-dead cases” from different governorates of Oman.
Al Jahdhami pointed out that, following approvals for organ donation, the programme arranged the transplantation of 8 organs (including kidneys and livers) for patients who did not have living donors. The operations included the first heart transplant in the history of Oman, he explained.
This year, the total number of liver transplants stood at 15 cases (14 cases from living donors and one case from a deceased donor), said Al Jahdhami. He added that the total number of kidney transplants stood at 35 cases (among them 9 from living donors and 6 from deceased donors).
Al Jahdhami observed that a total of 107 corneal transplant operations were performed during 2025 as part of the corneal transplant programme. In addition, this service has been expanded in a number of hospitals in Oman.
Oman Organ Donation Day programme included a lecture by the medical director of the National Transplant Organization of Spain. The lecturer outlined successful global experiences in this field and elaborated on the medical and economic impact of organ transplantation programmes.
Another specialist, Dr Ali al Jahdhami, gave a lecture titled 'The Virtue of Organ Donation in Islam', in which he spoke about the legal and humanitarian aspects of this noble deed. Following the lecture, a number of organ transplant recipients gave emotional accounts about their experience with diseases and commended the virtue of organ donation.
The ceremony of Oman Organ Donation Day was held under the auspices of Dr Said bin Harib al Lamki, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Health for Health Affairs, and was attended by officials from the Ministry of Health and representatives of health institutions in Oman. - ONA
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