Aya Salah
Egyptian actor Elham Shahin announced the donation of her organs after her death. Many later have talked about wanting to do it themselves, with many others opposing the idea. This is why we decided to compile everything we know so far about organ donation in Egypt.
This week, the Egyptian actor Elham shahin posted a video on her Instagram announcing the donation of her organs after death.
Elham expressed in the video how donating one’s organs after death is an act of charity and good for humanity and those in need.
She added that she asked sheikhs about donating organs, and they told her it’s halal and will donate their organs after death.
Shahin encourages everyone to do the same, hoping that donating organs after death will become more widespread.
But Elham wasn’t the first case that we’ve heard about recently. In June, Dina Reda was the first Egyptian woman to legally documented her organ donation after death.
Dina said that she thought about donating her organs at the age of 16 after she learned that it was common in America to transfer organs from a dead person to a sick person in need of organs, such as the pancreas, cornea, and many other organs.
As for the first public case in Egypt, it was Youssef Radi, who also legally documented his organ donation after his death in 2014.
Radi said that while he was submitting his documentation, there were about 15 others who also submitted, pointing out that the idea brought them together. They hope to promote it in Egyptian society.
In addition, a BBC report shared the story of a girl named Sarah Fouad, who started an initiative with her colleagues to encourage Egyptians to donate their organs after death.
In 2014, Sarah met Youssef Radi- the man mentioned earlier in this article-. Together, they launched an initiative to help those like them obtain that donation certificate.
The initiative started with ten people on a Facebook page, which increased to five thousand people today.
Sarah says that her task was to send the required documents to the members, explain how to document them, receive complaints from those wishing to apply, and transfer them with Youssef to the real estate officials in Egypt to try to solve them.
But what are the laws and regulations in Egypt regarding organ donation after death?
According to Dr. Mohamed Awad Taj El-Din, Advisor to the Egyptian President for Health and Prevention Affairs, a study is currently underway to add the choice of organ donation to the national ID card, similar to what is done in many countries of the world.
In addition, Dr. Walid Fahmy, head of the Union of Real Estate Notaries, said that documenting organ donation certificates has been regulated by the Egyptian constitution since 2014 after it was approved religiously by the mosque and the church.
What does Islam say about organ donation?
Many have religious concerns when it comes to organ donations after death. However, Dar Al Iftaa and Azhar sheikhs confirmed that it’s halal.
Dar Al Iftaa stated that It is legally permissible, stressing that it is one of the medical methods that have proven feasibility in treatment, medicine, and recovery. Therefore, it is halal to perform transfers and transplantation of some human organs from one person to another, whether from one living person to another or a dead person to a living one.
According to Sheikh of Al-Azhar Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, who previously announced his donation of the cornea of his eye after his death, it is halal to transfer human organs from a person who has recently died to another living person “as long as this is done in a proper manner and through donation.
What are organ donation rules after death, and how to do it?
Here are the rules for submitting a declaration:
1- The declaration must include the donated parts from the donor’s body.
2- The declaration must include all the donor’s data from the national ID card, the donor’s name, nationality, and relationship to the donor or the degree of his kinship with him.
3- The donation shall be made without any money in return for the donor’s family or relatives.
4- The donor must be fully qualified and not more than fifty years old, except for transferring only the mother cells (excluding other organs or parts of the body) from a child or a minor to the receiving person (parents, children, or between brothers), provided the consent of the child’s parents if both of them are alive, or one of them alive, or of those who have guardianship over the child, or the consent of the representative or legal representative of the minor person, who signs the document and ratifies his signature.
5- The donation is to a relative up to the second degree. If the donor is not, the document must acknowledge that none of the donor’s relatives is fit to donate to him or that they are unwilling to donate to him. It should be written that this acknowledgment was made to be submitted to the entity whos responsible for organ transplantation, and it has the right to accept or reject it.
The law defined the transferable organs: (the liver, kidneys, heart, pancreas, small intestine, and lung) and specified the transferable tissues: (skin, heart valves, blood vessels, and bones).
Required documents:
Documents to be submitted when requesting an organ donation must be issued by free will and confirmed by a written acknowledgment from the donor-supported by the testimony of two first-degree relatives or certified by the real estate registry.
In the case of a donation to non-relatives, the following law stipulates:
- Approval of a special committee was formed for this purpose by a decision of the Minister of Health that includes a member of the judicial bodies within its formation.
- Provide proof that any of the relatives up to the second degree are medically unfit to donate, based on a medical certificate issued by the facility where the surgery will be performed and approved by the director of the transplant program in the facility and the hospital director, or their unwillingness to donate based on a signed acknowledgment written by them before the tripartite committee Inside the facility where the surgery is performed and approved by the committee.
