Call for more organ donors

PHUKET: Senior figures of the Phuket chapter of the Thai Red Cross Society and Patong Hospital on August 3 called for more people to sign up as organ donors.

The announcement was made at the “Organ and Blood Donations Devote Life to Mother and Nations” blood donation drive at Jungceylon, where in five hours 94 people donated blood that will be stored at Phuket Vachira Hospital’s blood bank.

Only donations from people with type B or O blood were collected at the drive, with 194 people with other blood groups registering with the hospital to donate at a later date.

However, organ and eye donors were also sought in a bid to help some of the thousands of patients in need of transplants in Thailand.

Patients requiring corneal transplants in Thailand are having to wait up to four years due to a lack of donors, with just 1,865 people registering to meet the needs of 4,000 people in 2005.

Sixty-five eye donors and 41 organ donors registered with Bangkok Phuket Hospital at the event, with 65 organ donors signing up with Phuket Vachira Hospital.

Chalermprakiet organ-donation center at Phuket Vachira Hospital opened in April, and the Thai Red Cross Eye Bank at Bangkok Phuket Hospital opened in May.

Dr Wiwat Sritamanod of the Phuket Provincial Health Office said that he hopes the donation centers will encourage people in Phuket to sign up as donors and help reduce the number of patients across the country waiting for transplants.

For further information contact Chalermprakiet donation center at Tel: 076-361234-1285 or the Thai Red Cross Eye Bank, Bangkok Phuket Hospital, at Tel: 076-254425-1281.

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