Under a new initiative called the Islamic Republic Network of Organ Procurement and Transplant (IRNOPT), an organ transplant management center has been established at the Health Ministry, said Katayoun Najafizadeh, head of the ministry’s Transplant and Rare Diseases Office. “Following the approval of the Management and Planning Organization, the Organ Transplant Office was upgraded to a center comprising five departments in order to create a comprehensive network of donor organs and a waitlist of patients,” she told IRNA. The center includes transplantation, organ procurement, organ allocation, living kidney donation, and bone marrow transplant departments. The initiative will increase the number of organ procurement centers from 45 to 53 at the universities of medical sciences in the country. Between 5,000 and 8,000 people are declared brain-dead in Iran every year, while the organs of only 665 brain-dead are donated. At least 2,500-4,000 organ transplants are needed annually. Nearly 25,000 people suffer from organ failure and around 1,000-3,000 Iranians register as organ donors every month.
