The other day I came about an ad for a campaign regarding organ donations in Kuwait. The concept is not new per say, only much less approached and talked about in our society. In terms of organ donation it’s common to see loving family members donate kidney’s or perhaps bone marrow to a matching sick member in need. Blood donations are also done easily, but what about other organ donations?
Abroad there are cards people can fill when they want their organs to be donated after they pass away and it happens all the time. It’s a bit creepy and ominous when thinking about it, but it might eventually save someone’s life. Some people would dismiss the thought entirely, saying it’s not permitted in Islam but in Islam its permitted in certain cases and conditions by most scholars. What remains is, would a living healthy person want to think about or allow a piece of their body to live on, then eventually buried with someone else, after they pass away?
I’ve heard about heart transplant patients who, after getting a new heart have had craving for certain dishes or, no pun intended here, had a change of heart and began feeling differently about things, loving them or craving them or something. I don’t even know if heart transplants were ever done in Kuwait or if it goes with the Kuwaiti law but that’s besides the point. There actually exists an organization, The Kuwait Transplant Society (link), that deals with organ donations and they state in their ads that there are 4360 individuals in Kuwait who own organ donation cards. Quiet a lot I’d say, I only know one Kuwaiti person with such a card.
The question that remains here is, would you want to donate an organ to save a life, and why?