The government said yesterday it is considering relaxing the regulations involving organ donations from patients suffering from irreversible comas to encourage more people to take part.
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said it is planning to omit or minimize the confirmation process to receive the necessary organs of brain-dead patients, making it easier for those in need to get the donations.
Currently, the hospitals are obliged to check with the family members of brain-dead patients even if the patients themselves signed up for organ donation. Two of their family members also have to agree to go forward with the actual act of donating the patient`s organs.
A committee, consisting of medical, religious and legal representatives, has the authority but that may be scrapped as well, ministry officials said.
The ministry will host a conference with people from academia, religious groups and the private sector to collect their opinions to prepare a final revision plan by May, its officials said.
This comes after the news that Kim donated his eyes to two separate patients, one for each.
It has also been found that the number of people waiting for organ donations across the nation has been rising recently, jumping from 2,840 people in 2000, 4,915 in 2003, 7,614 in 2006, to 10,717 in 2008, according to the ministry.
Since news spread that Kim had donated his eyes, the number of people interested in organ donations has gone up almost eightfold at some local agencies.
Even celebrity figures like Park Jung-ah and Seo In-young, members of K-pop group Jewelry, expressed their wish to donate their eyes.
The ministry data showed it normally takes an average of 41 months to meet a heart donor, 52 months for a lung donor and 62 months to receive a corneal transplant, the ministry said.
By Cho Ji-hyun
(sharon@heraldm.com)
[출처 : 코리아헤럴드]
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