Morocco Faces Challenges in Organ Donation and Transplantation Awareness

Confusion, anxiety, psychosis, vague fear, psychological reluctance, lack of knowledge of legislation from a religious point of view, rarity of discussion and information represent among other things the barriers to transplantation in the kingdom. Pending a better understanding of this act of generosity and solidarity, the time has come for awareness-raising. October 17, World Organ Transplant Day, should be used to further raise public awareness of the importance of this act, reports Apanews.

According to the Moroccan Association for the Fight against Kidney Diseases, Morocco experienced its first kidney transplant with a living donor in 1986. For 34 years, the Kingdom has carried out 630 kidney transplants, including 60 from brain-dead subjects, or about 17 transplants per million inhabitants since 1990. As for potential organ donors after death, they are almost rare. The same source specifies that some 1,100 people, including more than 700 in Casablanca, have registered since 1989 in organ donation registers after their death.

For the members of the association, it is urgent to face the scale of the demand, the failure of the means and logistics, the lack of training of caregivers and the information of the population.
Recalling the number of people to be transplanted and the 32,000 dialysis patients in search of a quality of life, the association has called on every Moroccan to promote solidarity.