https://imcjms.com Ibrahim Medical College Journal of Medical Science https://imcjms.com/registration/journal_full_text/143 Sun, 13 Nov 2016 08:48:17 +0000 Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2009; 3(2): 55-58 Keywords: Organ transplantation, awareness, healthcare professionals, religious sanctions. Introduction An organ transplant is a surgical operation where a failing or damaged organ in the human body is removed and replaced by a new one. The organs and tissues to be transplanted may come from three sources: a) homologous transplantation- here tissue is moved between sites on the same body b) live donation- in this process tissue is taken from a living donor whose tissues have been matched to or are compatible with those of the recipient and the largest source c) cadaver or deceased donation- when the organs are taken from a recently deceased person.1 The results are the best if the organs are obtained while circulation is still present or immediately after cessation of the circulation giving rise to the importance of the concept of brain death. If an individual can be certified to be brain dead, his or her organs may be removed for transplantation purposes provided there are legal sanctions to the process of organ transplantation in the country in question. Most developed countries have sophisticated laws to regulate organ donation and transplantation. The world has come a long way since the times of third century saints Damian and Cosmos trying to replace the gangrenous leg of the Roman deacon Justinian with the leg of a recently deceased Ethiopian.2 An Organ Transplantation Law also exists in Bangladesh. The law is embodied in an act known as the “Human Organ Transplantation Act 1999”. This act defines ‘Organ’ as kidney, heart, liver, pancreas, bone, bone marrow, eyes, skin or any other human organ or tissue. The act also defines the legal heirs or successors of the body of a deceased person and is according to priority as follows: husband, wife, adult son and daughter, adult brother or sister, or any other adult blood related persons. Section 5 of the act defines the meaning of brain death and is in conformity with the clinical criteria of diagnosing brain death. The act also specifies the composition of the brain death declaration team.3  However, in spite of this law, organ transplantation is yet to gain grounds in Bangladesh. Though there are many reasons behind such a situation it is felt that lack of awareness and religious misconceptions are primary. This study attempts to find out the awareness level and attitude regarding organ transplantation among health care professionals and medical students in large teaching hospitals in the capital of the country who can play a pioneering role in popularizing the procedure. Materials and Methods This descriptive cross-section designed study was conducted at Ibrahim Medical College and BIRDEM Hospital, Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College and Hospital and Holy Family Red Crescent Nursing Institute in Dhaka city during the month of Jan, 2009 to March 2009. In total 462 respondents were selected purposively, of them 71 were graduate doctors, 32 post-graduate doctors, 41 diploma nurses, 50 BSC nursing students and 268 medical students. They were interviewed by a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed with the help of a computer. Results Of the respondents, 137 (29.6%) were males and 325 (70.4%) were females. The mean age of the doctors was 34.2 years, while for the nurses, it was 31.5 years and 20.5 for the medical students. Three fourths (76.4%) were Muslims, followed by Hindus (16.9%), Christians (5.4%) and Buddhists (1.3%). More than half (53.2%) of the post graduate doctors, 35.1% of the MBBS doctors, 26.8% of the diploma nurses, 28% of the BSC nursing students and 29.1% of the medical students and on average 31.4% of the total respondents knew that there was an organ transplantation law in Bangladesh while 16.5% said that there was no such law, whereas 52.2% have no idea about organ transplantation law (Table 1). Table-1: Distribution of respondents according to their awareness about organ transplantation law in Bangladesh. Yes Not Known MBBS Doctor 12 (16.9) 71 (100) 17 (53.1) 7 (21.9) Diploma Nurse 7 (17.1) 41 (100) 14 (28) 23 (46) Medical students 36 (13.4) 264 (100) 145 (31.4) 241 (52.2)   Although 70.8% of the respondents were in favour of the need of an organ transplantation law in our country, 7.4% were not in favour of such a law. A fifth (21.9%) had no idea about such a law to enable them to comment (Table 2). Table-2: Distribution of the respondents on need of organ transplantation law in Bangladesh Yes Not sure 54 (76.1) 12 (16.9) 28 (87.5) 3 (9.4) 24 (58.5) 10 (24.4) 31 (62) 7 (14) 190 (70.9) 69 (25.8) 327 (70.8) 101 (21.9)     Respondents No (%) MBBS Doctors (n = 71) 19 (26.8) Post graduate doctors (n = 32) 12 (37.5) Diploma Nurses (n = 41) 27 (65.9) BSC nursing students (n = 50) 27 (54.0) Medical students (n = 268) 109 (40.7) Total (n = 462) 194 (42.0)   Opinion was sought from the respondents on which organ or organs they were willing to donate after their death. The most common organ cited was the eye. 140 (30.3%) were willing to donate their eyes, 42 (9.1%) their kidneys and 23 (4.9%) their heart (Table 4). Table-4: Distribution of organs likely to be donated by the respondents Frequency 140 (30.3) 42 (9.1) 23 (4.9) 1 (0.2) 6 (1.3) 57 (12.3)     Respondents No (%) Total (%) 15 (21.1) 38 (53.5) Post graduate doctors 5 (15.6) 32 (100) 15 (36.6) 6 (14.6) BSC nursing students 29 (58.0) 50 (100) 71 (26.5) 97 (36.2) Total 172 (37.2) 462 (100)       1.   Shepherd R. The Medical Aspects of Death in Simpson’s ForensicMedicine.12th Edition. 2003.Arnold,London. 3.   The Human Organ Transplantation Act of 1999 of Bangladesh. 5.   Background document of Regional Meeting on WHO guiding principles on Organ, Tissue and Cells Transplantation, Jaipur, India, 2-5 February 2009. 7.   J Godard, AN Turner, AD Cumming, LS Stewart. Kidney and Urinary Tract Disease in Davidson’s Principles and Practice of Medicine Edited by Boon NA, Colledge N R, Walker BR. 20th Edition. 1st India Reprint; 2006 Elsevier, India: 494. 2026 Ibrahim Medical College. All rights reserved.