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KAMPALA - Surgeons are appealing to the public to voluntarily donate their body organs to support other needy patients.

The call was made Tuesday during the second Association of Surgeons of Uganda (ASOU) landscape exhibition held at Kololo Independence Grounds.

Speaking to New Vision, Dr Tom Mwambu, a Senior Consultant Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon, said that if a patient is brain dead, there is no need to bury that person when there is a young person who needs that organ to live a meaningful life.

“If doctors declare your person brain dead, relatives should be able to consent so that surgeons can transplant that person’s body organ in order to improve graft quality for donation,” Dr Mwambu said.

Brain dead is when a person is on an artificial life support machine and no longer has any brain functions. This means they will not regain consciousness or be able to breathe without support.

A person who is brain-dead is legally confirmed as dead.

“We have so many people who do not wear helmets while using bodabodas when such a person knocks their head on the ground and it gets injured, and the rest of the body parts are okay,  if the person becomes brain dead, relatives should consent to transplant different organs,” Dr Mwambu said.

Dr Mwabu said that with consent from relatives in case the dead person never willed to have his or her body organs transplanted, surgeons can remove a kidney, liver, skin, bones lungs, and pancreas.

“What is hindering us is the absence of the organ transplant council to legalise organ donation and transplant surgery in the country. Once it is in place, we will have guidelines on how to transplant,” Dr Mwabu said.

In his speech, Prof Frank Rubabinda Assimwe, the outgoing President of ASOU, said they will advocate for government to give special treats to Ugandans who will be willing to donate their organs once the legalisation is in place.

“If a donor is travelling and on his or her national Identity cards it shows that he is a donor, that person should sit in business class so that they feel rewarded,” Dr Assimwe said.