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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Ibnosina Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences 2021; 13(01): 3-13
DOI: 10.4103/ijmbs.ijmbs_16_21
Review Article

Solid organ transplantation medicine in Arab countries: A Narrative Review Focused on Ethical Aspects

Khalid Bel’eed-Akkari
1   Multi-Organ Transplant Center, King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam
,
Khadija Hafidh
2   Department of Medicine, Dubai Medical College, Dubai
3   Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Rashid Hospital, DHA, Dubai
,
Issam Hajjaji
4   National Centre for Diabetes
5   Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli
,
Salem Beshyah
2   Department of Medicine, Dubai Medical College, Dubai
6   The Endocrinology Clinic, Mediclinic Airport Road Hospital, Abu Dhabi
,
Elmahdi Elkhammas
7   Department of Surgery, Division of Transplantation, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
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Introduction: Ethical issues have been at the center of transplantation medicine for the past 60 years. Arab countries are not without ethical concerns with living donations as the dominant type of organ source. There is no comprehensive review of the ethical consideration evolvement. This narrative review aims to examine the English medical literature over the past 25 years. Materials and Methods: This is a narrative review of the international literature from two online databases (PubMed and Scopus). The combined search term “Ethics and Transplantation” was coupled with the individual names of the countries of the Arab countries. Relevant literature was narrated in a concise thematic account. Results: The themes that emerged from the review process included global concern on transplantation ethics that touched on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Some reports on transplantation practice status in the MENA region address clinical practice, organization, and ethical considerations. Organ-specific reports focused on renal and liver transplantation. Several other researchers addressed the knowledge and attitudes of health-care professionals of transplantation and posttransplantation care. The ethics of transplantation medicine has focused on the donation and financially motivated provision of organs (mainly kidneys). A few authors have underscored the implications of the Istanbul declaration on the prevention of trafficking of human organs to the practice of transplant medicine. Being a Muslim-majority region, several authors addressed the ethical and medicolegal aspects of transplantation from an Islamic perspective. Conclusions: Ethical issues in transplantation are evolving in Arab countries. They are mostly related to religious and cultural backgrounds. A broader dialog between the medical community, Islamic scholars, and legislators must continue to align concepts such as brain death and donor compensation. Furthermore, a concerted effort is required to inform the public and further the transplant agenda.

Key-words:

Arab countries - ethics - Islamic - kidney - liver - medico-legal - middle east - North Africa - organ donation - organ transplantation - review

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.




Publication History

Received: 22 February 2021

Accepted: 22 February 2021

Article published online:
14 July 2022

© 2021. The Libyan Authority of Scientific Research and Technologyand the Libyan Biotechnology Research Center. All rights reserved. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License,permitting copying and reproductionso long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, oradapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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