Members of the Egyptian Parliament Health Affairs Committee announced Tuesday, 22 November, their decision to donate their organs after death.
According to MP Inas Abdelhalim, Undersecretary of the Health Affairs Committee at the Egyptian Parliament, this decision comes as a way to encourage community members to consider organ donation.
Abdelhalim highlighted that this decision stems from the committee’s core belief that it is their national duty to save patients’ lives.
On the same day, forms for post-mortem organ donation, issued by Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population, were distributed across Egyptian health authorities. Originally proposed by the Parliament’s Health Affairs Committee, the form is the first step to documenting the process of donating organs after death.
Conversation about post-mortem organ donation were sparked after Egyptian actress Elham Shahine posted a video announcing her intention to donate all her healthy organs to those in need after her death.
Since then, social media users and television commentators have been discussing the matter, with both supporters and opposers vocally expressing their views.
Both Dar al-Ifta, Egypt’s leading authority on ambiguous Islamic matters, and the Coptic Orthodox Church previously released statements declaring that it is permissible to donate organs post-mortem.
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