Organ Donor Data in Driving Licence

This article discusses the concept of organ donation in driving licence and its implementation in Saudi Arabia. It also covers the barriers and arguments for organ donation in Saudi Arabia. The article suggests alternative approaches to overcome the barriers and increase the number of organ donors in the country.

Running head: ORGAN DONOR DATA IN DRIVING LISCENCE
ORGAN DONOR DATA IN DRIVING LISCENCE
Name of the Student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Introduction:
The development of organ donation in 21st century has been an amazing attainment.
The patients who are suffering with end-stage organ failure, organ donation is the only
effective method to give a new life to the patient. The success of organ transplantation
principally depends on three factors based on public cognizance, support and vigorous
participation (Sehgal et al. 2016). The government of different nations are proposing the
concept to pledge their organ donation information while applying for the driving licence by
helping someone to save life. If the individual wants to be an organ donor, then a symbol of
their consent as a red heart will be visible on their driving licence (Hill 2016). In case if an
individual suffers a fatal accident, their consent for organ donation will be visible in the
driving licence and their organs can be donated to someone needy. The government of Saudi
Arabia came up with Saudi Centre for Organ Transplantation (SCOT) in 1984, to keep a
check on the progress or accomplishments of organ donation (Jabr et al. 2016). According to
SCOT, 4 million people are registered as organ donors in Saudi Arabia.
Background of Organ donation:
In UK, more than 90% of the population have showed their interest in supporting the
organ donation strategy and approximately 30% have registered. More than half a million-
population of UK register for organ donation through Driver and vehicles Licensing agency
(DVLA). The strategy was initiated in UK from 1994 under DVLA scheme, with more than
8.5 million people registered to NHS organ donation (GOV.UK, 2019). Spain has the highest
number of organ donors in the world. In Saudi Arabia, the total number of organ donation
statistics has increased from 1,036 in 2015 to 1,082 in 2016. Earlier, the driver used to either
ignore or miss the question of organ donation while applying for driving licence, but with the
increasing demand among the population for more organ donors has welcomed some new

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initiatives to make the people aware about the concept of organ donation. In US, the
prompted choice scheme is already established, where the applicant will get a separate page
regarding organ donation and can accordingly make their choices (Stroh et al. 2015) In US,
the rate of organ donation registration has increased to 60% from 2008.
Organ donation Check box:
The Driver and Vehicles Licensing Agency (DVLA) in UK created a new organ
donation check box, which the individual had to fill according to their suitable option.
Earlier, the organ donation checklist was included as a small part in the driving license form,
which was usually ignore or missed by the people. Hence, to educate people more about the
organ donation scheme, the government came up with a new checkbox as prompted choice
scheme, with different questions stating the consent if an individual wish to be an organ
donor (Putnam and Riis 2016). The check box appeared on a separate page and the individual
had to invest some time to read about the organ donation registry and accordingly apply for
driving licence with or without an option of organ donation. This approach also helped
people to gain knowledge about organ donation thereby educating the population regarding
the scheme of being an organ donor after death with their approved consent visible in their
driving licence (Neuberger 2016). Hence, the government of Saudi Arabia can accept and
implement this prompt choice scheme. This will enable the people of Saudi Arabia to read
and gain knowledge about organ donation while applying for driving license and take an
initiative to actively participate in the campaign. This will also help in creating an awareness
among the population of Saudi Arabia.
Literature review:
AlHabeeb et al. 2017 conducted a survey with limited number of people (1250
participants joined the survey) in 18 different cities of Saudi Arabia, to understand the

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attitude of people regarding the concept of organ donation and transplantation. He used
questionnaire method of survey and interpreted the result, which stated that approximately
90% of the population agreed with the idea of organ transplantation without any
specification, as it is a humane act of saving lives. From the result, it was understood that the
population was accepting the idea of organ transplantation and were eager to donate, but still
some proportion of the population held reservations towards heart donation. Almufleh et al.
2018 also conducted a survey with questionnaire approach among the general people of Saudi
Arabia in cities of Riyadh and Jeddah with 2596 participants, and to, estimate if these people
had any knowledge about the Islamic opinion supporting the concept of organ
transplantation. The result showed that about 70% of the participated population were
unaware of religious acceptance of organ donation and transplantation, rest 30% of the
participants had prior knowledge. The above findings were mostly acquired from single-
interior and enclosed minor non-representative trials, which highlighted the necessity for
bigger study in order to create an enhanced understanding on the rates of organ donation
cognizance, willingness to be an organ donor, and attentiveness of the Islamic opinion.
AlHejaili, Almalik and Albrahim 2018 on the other hand, in their article had inspected
whether awareness of organ donation and transplantation (ODT) were related to the
approaches and principles of organ donation among the medical graduates in Saudi Arabia.
Cross- sectional survey approach was conducted with 821 respondents and the result was
analysed, which stated that a majority of the participants supported the ODT, but a significant
proportion of the participants had a negative belief and approach towards ODT. Researchers
suggested of conducting a debate as a part of study, concerning the views and ideas regarding
the benefits of organ donation and transplantation (AlShareef and Smith 2018).
Arredondo et al. 2018 explained the idea of using two models developed under the
Ministry of Health of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with the assistance of Saudi Centre

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for Organ Transplantation (SCOT) to increase the donation rate in Saudi Arabia with a 3-year
project. The study focused on the way to improve the donation and transplantation (D&T)
rates by applying an organ donation system grounded on the execution of the supreme
effective models in organ donation (SEUSA) and quality systems (ODEQUS). The result
obtained by using these methodologies have shown a positive impact to combine organ
donation and transplantation systems. However, practical implication of the above
methodologies were still lacking behind, as it was a conceptual project with no practical
implication. Hafzalah et al. 2014 also intended to evaluate the enthusiasm of migrated Saudi
Muslims in America to be a potential organ donor and to define the probable religious
obstacles relating to organ donation by evaluating a brief spiritual educational intervention
with 285 participant. He conducted a face-to-face survey with 81% of the positive response
from the participants. Hence suggesting that education may expand the knowledge of organ
donation between the Muslim communal.
Barriers of organ donation:
Religious barrier is considered as the major barrier towards organ donation. The
majority of people belonging to the Muslim community are unaware of their religious
acceptance towards organ donation (Tarus and Gavrilovici 2015). People have a
misconception that donating organs will violate their respective religion, hence effecting the
participation rate of organ donors. Almohsen et al. 2016 conducted a survey using qualitative
method of research to understand the knowledge, beliefs and attitude of the student towards
organ donation. Lack of knowledge regarding the process of organ donation was the major
drawback predicted by the authors as 51.8% of the population were scared to be an organ
donor due to the fear and misconception regarding the side effects. Hence, lack of efficient
and proper knowledge on organ donation is considered as another primary barrier. The
government has to set up different public health campaigns stating the advantages of organ

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donation. The government of Sweden was also facing the same problem, as the immigrants of
Sweden lack proper information and knowledge regarding organ donation (Krupic, Sayed and
Fatahi 2017). The major factors hampering organ donation were the religious aspect, fear and
misconception regarding the outcomes of organ donation and lack of knowledge about organ
donation.
Arguments for organ donation in Saudi Arabia:
The major argument revolving in Saudi Arabia regarding organ donation was in
obtaining a consent from an individual. Sehgal et al. 2016 stated that in order to be a suitable
organ donor, the individual must sign a consent stating that they are aware of being an organ
donor; so that once they are dead, the government can allow the hospital to donate the
individual’s organ to someone needy who might get another life (Li and Nikolka 2016). In
Saudi Arabia, majority of population were not ready to give any consent of being an organ
donor as they were scared of the outcomes of organ donation. This was hindering the growth
of organ donation in Saudi Arabia. According to Ahmad and Iftikhar 2016, due to lack of
knowledge and awareness, the people of Saudi Arabia were not showing much interest in
being an organ donor. The interest among people was varying a lot as the population with a
background knowledge of organ donation were showing interest in developing the concept of
organ donation but the people with no background knowledge were highly taken aback from
the concept of being an organ donor (Sharif 2018). The medical professors or students were
interested in solving the concern regarding organ donation by setting up health campaigns,
health programs and health workshops to educate people regarding the advantages of being
an organ donor. The government implemented no effective organ donation check box (Feeley
and Kruegler 2015). The majority of people were not aware of the organ donation scheme in
driving licence, hence creating a major argument among the population of Saudi Arabia
regarding the implementation of organ donation system in driving licence.

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Conclusion:
From the above-mentioned information, it was clear that the population of Saudi
Arabia were developing the knowledge of organ donation and transplantation and some
people were lacking behind due to lack of awareness of the concept in Islamic religion. The
government was taking initiates to increase the number of organ donors in the country by
accepting and implementing all the possible strategies. US, UK and Middle Eastern countries
had already established different approaches to increase the rate of organ donors. Different
factors, which were considered as the major barrier for the set-up of organ donation, were
studied in detail and alternative approaches were suggested to overcome those barriers. The
effectiveness of brief spiritual learning will improve the organ transplantation and donation
rates amongst the Muslim communal in Saudi Arabia.

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