Politicians, auxiliary bishop have their say on organ donation

As things stand in Malta, everyone can apply for an organ donor card, thereby making an informed choice to donate their healthy organs after their death.

However, even if a deceased person is in possession of such a donor card, the final decision as to whether their organs should be donated or not remains in the hands of that person’s family.

Is it time for people’s choices to donate their own organs to be reflected through a new legislation that would give donor cards a legal status?

Parliamentary Secretary for Health Chris Fearne told Sunday newspaper ILLUM that the Parliamentary Committee for Social Affairs has started discussing the topic. In the coming weeks, the Committee will speak to experts, NGOs like Organ Donation Transplant Group, and people who have been involved in organ donation themselves.

Shadow Health Minister Claudio Grech said that any form of legislation of organ donation must respect human dignity. Organs should never end up as negotiable products and should never be donated “as a pretext for other things”.

A.D. Secretary General Ralph Cassar also agrees that some sort of legislation for organ donation should exist. He pointed out that the deceased’s family members will often not be in the right state of mind to make such an important decision regarding their loved one’s organs.

Auxillary Bishop Charles Scicluna said that any such legislation must be based on certain principles. Donated organs mustn’t be paid for, the donator or his/her relatives must provide express consent, and the donator’s death must be certified by a team of experts who have no personal interests in seeing the patient’s organs donated.

Read the full feature story in Sunday’s edition of ILLUM.