CAIRO: The People's Assembly's health committee has agreed to unrestricted organ donations, Al-Dostour reported Friday. A draft law on organ donations is currently before the People's Assembly. The way in which potential organ donors signal their consent to have their organs removed will be left to the draft law's implementing statute, Al-Dostour reports. The majority of committee members agreed to MP Kamal El-Shazly's suggestion that willingness to be an organ donor should be indicated on national ID cards. Al-Masry Al-Youm meanwhile reported that head of the Doctors' Syndicate Hamdy El-Sayyed suggested during the health committee meeting that procedures surrounding establishing consent should not be made too strict. El-Sayyed pointed to the large number of people killed in road accidents each year, who represent about 90 percent of organ donators. This number comprises mostly young people who have not signaled their intent to be an organ donor, and who could potentially donate to some 42,000 people in need. Al-Masry Al-Youm writes that the committee agreed to Article 5 of the draft law that criminalizes organ selling and that the state will pay the cost of organ transplant operations for low-income patients. Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabaly added that organ transplant operations will be carried out according to priority, which will be assessed by a committee. During its previous meetings, the committee had agreed that the draft law should stipulate that transplant procedures among living donors should be restricted to family members up to the fourth degree only. The organ transplant law has been a controversial topic hindered by the debate over the definition of death. Legislators opposed to the law say that death occurs when only both the brain and the heart stop, while the law's advocates believe that death occurs when one of the two organs seizes to function. The law was originally proposed by the Doctors' Syndicate over eight years ago. But it wasn't until two years ago that it was presented for discussion in parliament Some 18 Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia already have organ transplant laws in place. -Daily News Egypt
