İzmir leading province with highest number of organ donation

İZMİR

The western province of İzmir has been at the top of the list of provinces with the highest number of organ donors, the provincial health director has stated in an event held as part of Organ Donation Week.

Within the scope of activities comprising caricature drawing, motorcycling and various exhibitions to increase awareness of organ donation, Emre Erkuş, the provincial health director, and Murat Eskici, the provincial director of youth and sports, as well as representatives of many health institutions and volunteers attended a bicycle tour.

Reminding that the number of organ donations increased to high levels in İzmir before the pandemic, Erkuş emphasized that organ donation decreased a little with the pandemic process.

“As the pandemic slows down, we are trying to get our donation numbers back to the old level,” he said, adding that İzmir is still the leading province in the country with over 80,000 organ donations.

“We demand that all our citizens tell their family members that they donated organs while they are alive and carry their donation cards with them. In this way, if a brain death occurs, their families can donate their organs to someone in need,” he said, encouraging all citizens to donate their organs.

“Our organs should not become soil. I ask all our citizens for organ donation,” Erkuş added.

The number of volunteers who donated their organs while alive in Türkiye is over 565,000.

While the organ donation rate was 28.5 percent before the pandemic in 2020, this rate decreased to 25 percent.

Over 300,000 patients wait to find an organ in the country.

Kidney patients are at the forefront of those waiting for transplantation, while 33,003 people have clung to life with kidney transplantation in the last 10 years.

Kidney transplantation was followed by cornea, liver, heart, lung and pancreas transplants.