Organ Donation and Transplantation: Awareness, Attitude and Aptitude of the UniKL-RCMP Students, Malaysia

Mainul, Haque and ATM Emdadul, Haque and Agnes, Adaikalasamy (2015) Organ Donation and Transplantation: Awareness, Attitude and Aptitude of the UniKL-RCMP Students, Malaysia. Malaysia. Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology, 8 (10). pp. 1333-1342. ISSN 0974-3618

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Abstract

Organ and tissue donation is considered as the ultimate humanitarian act of service for mankind. The commonly transplanted organs are kidney, heart, liver, lungs and pancreas while the Transplantable tissues are eyes, bone, skin, and heart valves. Thus, a single donor can save the lives of a number of people. The practice of organ transplantation in Malaysia is carried out based on “opting in” system. The matter is highlighted in Human Tissue Act 1974; section 2(1) which is: “If any person, either in writing at any time or orally in the presence of two or more witnesses during his last illness, has expressed a request that his body or any specific part of his body be used after his death for therapeutic purposes, or for purposes of medical education or research, the person lawfully in possession his body after his death away, unless he has reason to believe that the request was subsequently withdrawn, authorize the removal of the body of any part or, as the case may be, the specific part, for use in accordance with the request.” In Malaysia, there is a huge gap between the number of transplants that are being carried out and the needs of the population. Awareness regarding organ donation lacks among Malaysians. The perception toward organ donation includes many factors; mainly education, religion, and culture. There are ethical issues related to living organ donation as live donors suffer from deteriorating physical health after donating organs and so organs taken from people after their death would be more ethical. This is a prospective and cross-sectional descriptive study. MBBS students of Phase 1A, 1B and 2, and Pharmacy and Radiography students of Semester 1, 2, 3 and 4 will be included in this study of UniKL-RCMP. A total of 380 questionnaires were distributed, but only 341 were completed and returned to us giving a response rate of 90%. UniKL-RCMP students, 73% of the respondents have good knowledge, 27% with average knowledge; 58% of them have a good attitude, 41% with average attitude, and 0.6% with poor attitude; 55% of them have average commitment, 41% and 5% with poor and good commitment regarding organ donation respectively. The overall findings of the current study showed an inconsistency in the knowledge, attitude and commitment of students towards organ donation as they possess good knowledge and attitude towards organ donation, but display poor commitment. Measures should be taken to educate people with information, such as the benefits and possible risks associated with organ donation so that people can make informed choices in the future.

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