Redhotcurry - Health. Religious Perspectives Conference - Issues of Organ Donation Across Major Faiths

Nearly 200 hospital and bereavement workers met in Birmingham at the 'Religious Perspectives Conference' this week to hear how they can help give grieving relatives the opportunity to consider organ donation. The conference, also involving transplant experts and spiritual leaders of Britain's six major religions, focussed on discussing the compatibility of religious beliefs with donating organs for transplant after death.

It follows the recent production of six leaflets covering organ donation and Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism, which were produced to help inform intensive care staff about the beliefs of people from various ethnic backgrounds.

The event, which took place on Wednesday 10 September 2003 at the University of Birmingham, was organised by UK Transplant, the NHS special health authority responsible for matching and allocating donated organs.

"This event underlined the strong consensus of support for organ donation amongst multi-faith groups," says Rachel Howitt, UK Transplant's Religious Project Worker. "It's an important message to spread as widely as possible both for religious leaders and staff on hospital wards, who need to deal with these issues on a regular basis. People from all ethnic backgrounds should be aware that major religions support the principle of organ donation and transplantation."

An inaugural donor and transplantation inter-faith conference in Bradford three years ago highlighted the need for more published information about organ donation. Discussions also focussed on the need to increase organ donation from ethnic minorities.

The critical shortage of suitable donors and donated organs is even more acute in Black and South Asian populations. These communities are three times as likely to need a kidney transplant because they are more prone to illnesses such as diabetes, kidney disease and heart disease all of which can lead to organ failure.

"A shortage of donors from these ethnic groups means achieving well-matched organs for patients is often more difficult," explains Rachel. "The increased likelihood of requiring a transplant makes the need for donated organs even more important for black and South Asian people but less than 1% of people on the Organ Donor Register are from these communities.

"Many lives could be saved if only more people talked about organ donation and registered their wishes on the NHS Organ Donor Register."

Anyone can join the NHS Organ Donor Register by calling the Organ Donor Line on 0845 60 60 400 or by visiting www.uktransplant.org.uk.

Click on the links below for leaflet about faiths and organ donation.

Christianity and organ donation ( 668K)

Buddhism and organ donation ( 574K)

Sikhism and organ donation ( 647K)

Islam and organ donation ( 601K)

Hindu Dharma and organ donation ( 629K)

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