Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) Health Application and Research Center's Organ and Tissue Transplantation Unit serves as a center where living and cadaveric organ donations are received and stands out as a center where organ transplants are performed.

At the OMU Health Application and Research Center's Organ and Tissue Transplantation Unit, 536 kidney transplants from living donors and cadavers have been carried out since 2003, and 66 liver transplants have been performed since 2018.

The center also conducts awareness activities to promote organ donation.

Prof. Dr. Yarkın Kamil Yakupoğlu, a faculty member of the Urology Department at OMU Health Application and Research Center and the Director of the Kidney Transplantation Center, told Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter that cadaveric transplants are particularly prevalent at the center.

Yakupoğlu said, "About 60% of our transplants are performed with cadaveric donors. Last year, out of the approximately 90 cadaver donors in Türkiye, 30 came from the Samsun Organ and Tissue Transplantation Regional Coordination Center, and these organs were used throughout the country, especially in the Black Sea region. We have made great efforts to instill organ donation awareness here to this day. We have started to slowly reap the rewards of this because our list is quite crowded. About 800 patients are listed here waiting for a kidney transplant. We do everything we can to ensure their survival by transplanting organs that would otherwise turn to dust."

Yakupoğlu, mentioning that patients waiting for an organ transplant continue their lives on the edge of life and death, continued: "These patients have only one chance, and that is to undergo an organ transplant. Not everyone can have a loved one who can be a donor, or even if they do, they might not be in a condition to donate. Therefore, donations from individuals who have suffered brain death are crucial for these people to cling to life, but unfortunately, these numbers are very low in our country at the moment. To increase these donations, people really need to be sensitive and remember that even if everything is fine and healthy today, they might suddenly need an organ tomorrow."

Yakupoğlu emphasized the significant responsibilities of health workers in increasing organ donations, "Health workers must correctly convey the process of organ donation, and the topic should be shared with the donor's relatives in an appropriate language and under suitable conditions. For the process to run smoothly, it's indeed most important that this topic is reiterated to wide audiences multiple times and its importance highlighted."

"Black Sea Region is the area with the highest number of cadavers in Türkiye"

OMU Health Application and Research Center's General Surgery Department faculty member Kaan Karabulut also reported successful liver transplants by the Organ and Tissue Transplantation Unit.

Pointing out that organ transplant procedures at OMU are at world standards, Karabulut added: "Each cadaver donation heals five people. The Black Sea Region has the highest number of cadavers in Türkiye. Therefore, we invite our people to donate their organs. Being the only one in this region, the frequency of liver transplants here is increasing. We perform about 15 liver transplants a year."

Durmuş Gümüş, a patient who underwent a liver transplant at the OMU Health Application and Research Center's Organ and Tissue Transplantation Unit, mentioned that he was added to the transplant list nine years ago.

Gümüş shared that he received a successful liver transplant from a person whose brain death had occurred and whose family had donated the organs, stating, "Those waiting for a transplant should not be upset; transplant is not death. I am delighted now that I can walk on my own without any support. Those in need of a transplant should apply without wasting time."