Istanbul Gelisim University -

"80% of the organ transplants in Turkiye are from alive people and 20% are from cadavers"

''Awareness in Organ Donation Symposium in 100th anniversary of our Republic'' by Istanbul Gelisim University Health Services Vocational School, was held. While information about organ donation and transplantation was given at the event, which was attended by experts in the field, the legal and moral dimensions were also discussed. It was stated that 80 percent of the organ transplantation rates in Turkey are from alive people and 20 percent are from cadavers.

Experts participated in the ''Awareness in Organ Donation Symposium in 100th anniversary of our Republic'' held by Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU) Vocational School of Health Services. The event began with the IGU Rector Prof. Dr. Bahri Şahin's and Vocational School of Health Services Director Prof. Dr. Mustafa Nizamlıoğlu's opening speeches, important information was given about Organ Donation, Organ and Tissue Transplantation Process, Two Sides of Transplantation, Legal Aspect of Organ and Tissue Transplantation, Spiritual Aspect of Organ Donation and Transplantation and Stem Cell Donation in Our Country.

"The donation rate is very low in our country"

Providing information on how to become an organ donor, Istanbul Organ and Tissue Transplant Regional Coordination Center, Organ Transplant Coordinator Işıl Baydoğan, "According to the data of Istanbul Regional Coordination Center, our donation rate in Turkey between 2015-2023 is 114 thousand. In other words, it includes a population of 21 million. As you can see, the donation rate in our country is very low. All organs can be donated. Transfers from the alive, can be done from 4th degrees to their relatives. It is also made from cadavers, patients with brain death. As our hospital conditions and surgeons, we are at a very good level in the world. However, 80 percent of the donations in our country, that is, transplants, are from alive people and 20 percent are from cadavers. As a country, we can kill our living being, but we cannot kill our dead. Therefore, we are in the 5th place in the world, but 80% of them are carried out by alive transplants."

Lung transplant patient Aygün Mengelli and Faziylet Sönmez, who is also the author of the book named ''Transplant Story'', explained the process they experienced by giving a speech titled Two Sides of Transplantation.

"There is no such thing as organ transfering by killing people, neither in Turkiye nor in the world"

Providing information about the Legal Aspect of Organ and Tissue Transplantation, the President of the Institute of Medical Law Prof. Dr. Hakan Hakeri stated: "Our law says that if a person has donated his organs while alive, you do not have to ask his family to take his organs after his death, but if the doctors ask and the family does not give the organs, the law says ‘take the organs’." Stating that there are many misperceptions about the organ mafia in the world and in Turkey, Hakeri also added, "We hear a lot about the organ mafia incident in the field of medicine, there is no mafia in another field, but when we get into the organ case, we are talking about the mafia. There are many wrong beliefs. People think; ‘they kidnap people and take their organs'. This is absolutely out of the question. In fact, you do not know whether it will fit or not, how many people you will take and you will try it. It is nonsense. Such a news is never reflected in the press in Turkey or in the world. We do not hear things like ‘dozens of people were kidnapped, tests were done and then released’. There are many urban legends. The organ mafia exists in Turkey, but it brings alive people together. You need an organ, someone needs money, and it provides that organization. "There is no such thing as organ transfering by killing people, neither in Turkiye nor in the world."

"It has been declared that organ transplantation and donation are permissible"

Istanbul Provincial Mufti Religious Services Specialist Hasan Göndüz, who answered the question marks in the minds of many people in his speech titled The Spiritual Aspect of Organ Donation and Transplantation, said, "The elimination of concerns is related to the transfer of accurate information. Benefiting a person is one of the basic principles of religion. People's interests are always at the forefront. Because life is changing, geographical conditions are changing, and many different events and situations are settling in human life and society, such as IVF, organ transplantation. When a situation arises in this regard, our Presidency and the Supreme Council of Religious Affairs come together with our academicians and professors in the field of medicine, in other words, in the field of law, and consult and check the interests of the people and the basic characteristics of religion at the first stage. The Supreme Council of Religious Affairs is explained as a result of the law fatwa numbered below. It has been declared that it is permissible in this way by following the same path regarding organ transplantation and donation."

Turkish Red Crescent European Stem Cell Donor Acquisition Specialist Nesrin Gürsul Akdağ gave information about how stem cell donation is progressing in our country. Akdağ:

“We bring together the patient in need of stem cells and the donor. Family scans of patients who need stem cells are performed and it is checked whether there is compliance or not. If there is no compliance, the bank is looked at; sometimes 90% or 100% compliance can be achieved with someone you do not know at all. If there is no compliance in the bank, stem cell transplantation is most likely performed from parents with a rate of 50%. Stem cell transplantation is mostly used as a treatment method in patients who do not work bone marrow, that is, whose immune system does not work or works less, in leukemias, lymph cancers. "