Faith communities get behind organ donation

Faith leaders came together for the first time earlier in the month to express their support for organ donation.

Representatives of the Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Jain communities were among the delegates at the UK’s first national Organ Donation Congress held by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).

The Congress also saw the launch of the department’s new religious belief leaflets setting out the perspectives of the main faith communities on blood and organ donation.

Sally Johnson, NHSBT’s Director of Organ and Transplantation, said she hoped the free resources would help in “dispelling any myths and concerns that people in these communities may have”.

The leaflets have been produced to help people of faith make informed decisions about organ donation.

NHSBT collaborated with leaders from the different faith communities in drawing up the religious guidance.

Rather than producing one leaflet to cover all the faiths, the NHS has produced separate leaflets dedicated to each of the faiths.

The Bishop of Carlisle helped to write the leaflet on organ donation within the Christian context, which states that organ donation can be considered by Christians “as a genuine act of love”.

Ms Johnson said: “We are grateful to the faith leaders for their time and input into developing the new leaflets, which we hope will help to inform and reassure religious communities that all the major religions agree to organ donation.

“We hope to see more people sign up to the Organ Donor Register as a result so that more lives can be saved.”

The Rt Rev Carol Wardman, Bishop’s Adviser on Church and Society in the Church of England and Wales, said it was important that people take time to think about organ donation.

“It is very important that we encourage conversations to take place around this because we all agree as people of faith that this life is not the only thing that there is and we can all talk quite freely about the fact that there will be things that happen after our death,” she said.

“Setting our affairs in order and making sure our relatives know our wishes with regard to organ donation is an important part of that. It is about raising it up the agenda and making sure those conversations take place.”

The Church in Wales has been involved in the current debate surrounding the Welsh Assembly’s proposal to introduce an opt-out register.

Rev Wardman added: “As churches, we would very much prefer that organ donation remains a voluntary act and an altruistic gift that people make to one another.”