Project Five: Organ Transplant New Law

Organ Transplant New Law 2010 WRAP


Kassasseya

4-18-10

LEAD-IN:

The new law on human organ transplants in Egypt is on hold. The law lacks a clear definition of death. A-U-C’s Christine Kassasseya has the story.

Organ transplant regulation was approved by Egypt’s Parliament last year. The law aims to decrease illicit trade in human organs.

The World Health Organization says that thousands of Egyptians sell their organs, like their kidneys, to pay off their debts. Egyptian Senior Product Specialist Oncology Department of Lipomed Roger Badawi confirms that the country’s economic conditions make it a prime target for organ trafficking.

BADAWI : “We can not deny that it happens in Egypt in illegal way, so we have to put some rules to make it more organized. We don’t want to legalize the abuse, we need to legalize the issue itself not the abuse of it”. (:17)

According to the law, organs donated from live donors will be restricted to “family members of the fourth degree”, and the removal of organs should be officially authorized by the Egypt’s Minister of Health higher Committee for Organ Transplants.

For deceased patients, the law stipulates that a three-person panel reach consensus on whether or not the potential donor is dead.

However, doctors disagree about the definition of death. Cardiologist and Physician consultant, Doctor Seif Abou Seif says the lack of a clear definition of death is the main reason behind the delay of the law.

ABOU SEIF: “One group says that when there is a brain death, that means the person is dead. The other group says that there should be a brain stem death to say that the person is dead”. (:22)

According to the new law, any decision to remove organs before the panel’s approval would be considered first-degree murder and punishable by death and a fine ranging from 100 000 LE to 300 000 LE.

The new law also states that transplant procedures for low-income patients will be financed by the State. Operations would be conducted according to case urgency, with a specialized committee in place to decide on priority cases.

Several months passed and the law is still not approved, and it might take time Abou Seif says,

ABOU SEIF: “Up till this moment I realize that both groups are not going to be one group or one word because every one of them is not feeling that the other is right”. (:19)

Christine Kassasseya, AUC News

Towards a better life

One of the very interesting facebook groups I saw is called “ Save Minimum Charge’, which basically fights against the notion of paying large sums of money on outings.

It is known that all Egyptian youth go out on Thursdays, and many on Fridays and Saturdays. Thus restaurants set a minimum charge according to the quality of the place, from 20 L.E to more than 200 L.E, forcing many poor people to feel depressed for not going out to such good places.

The problem is that wealthy people can afford to pay a range from 75 -150 LE , but they feel it is too high for eating the drinking. After all, it is just dinner not lunch. And the prices of the food are mush higher than their quality!

This scenario repeats itself every week, and wealthy people have nothing to do but to pay these sums of money for just one outing! The questions to be asked here, are we a rich nation?

Lets us examine a little bit the life of the poor people, which counts the majority of the population!

Men on average yield 600 LE per month, where they must make end meats.  They pay for house rent, transportation, food, water, shelter, school fees and extra fees for stationary or any break down.

A windowed woman yield not less than 300 LE and not more than 500 LE, due to discrimination, and she still have to pay the bills.

Needless to say that enfant mortality is high due to lack of food and health care. And the last thing a parent would like to see, is his poor child suffering from a disease and dying in front of his eyes.  Who can tolerate this mess!

While all of these people suffering, a bunch of friends are paying around 1000 L.E not even benefiting of the money they spend. While a 1000 LE can help a child to cure or even encourage a couple to get married before the 40s!

What I would highly empahizise on, is to give ourselves few minutes daily, and see the real problem that we always leave behind.

God gave us money, not to make full use of it, but to help our dear poor brother who is in need.

I see young innocent eyes dream of a car similar to mine when they look on it, or even to have the money to get married to the one they love.

The sense of guild is very hard, that I can not tolerate these looks. I want to see happy people. I want to see people’s dreams come true. And it is not my dream, but it should be our dream.

If each person on earth help with only 10 pounds daily, a difference will be seen. Instead of paying 100 LE and more, dedicate one day, and go out with your friends to the nearest orphanage or help institute and spend the sum of the money you were going to spend elsewhere. And I guruantee you that the happiness brought from helping the others, will not be described in words. Because it is real.

Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny is a rabbit that holds a basket full of colored eggs. Not only eggs but sometimes candy, chocolate and toys. Usually the bunny hides these things from children at night, so they can find them in the morning. This tradition is very close to the Christmas one, where presents are hided and the children have to wait till the nest day in order to see their gifts.




The notion has pre-Christian origins. It is originated in Germany ands was first mentioned in German writings in 1500s. And the first edible Easter bunnies were made during 1800s. The first edible German Easter Bunnies were made of sugar and pastry. It was then introduced to American folklore by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. And it was believed that if children were good, "Oschter Haws" will put a nest full of colored eggs. The idea was very similar to Santa Clause.


Children also built some nests using caps and bonnets. And they spent time on coloring the eggs too.


A question that many of us ask, why rabbits and eggs? They must be symbols.


Rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, and do they became symbols of the rising fertility. Besides, it is known that rabbits can have a second litter while she still pregnant with the first. And so they give birth to several litters annually.


The origin of eggs is not known yet. However since eggs reflect fertility and are colors white, so children either boil them with flowers or color them with bright colors.


Nowadays, Easter bunny is celebrated world wide and is considered to be very important tradition for children like Christmas and Halloween

Journal # four: Trouble with hubble bubble

Produced by: Nicola Humphries
Narrator: Konnie Huq
Length: 24:17

Shisha is getting popular in Asia, where it started to spread through café’s and even universities. Some youth started to prefer shisha over cigarettes believing that it is less harmful. This is a summary of what was reported on BBC Asian Network regarding the issue.

Known as Naguila, Hookah and other names, shisha is served with several fruit flavours and is known to be a sort of relaxation. It became a traditional thing and citizens believe that it is not as serious or danger ad cigarettes for example. That’s why, children as young as eleven smoke shisha with their parents normally in café’s.

Shisha produces carbon monoxide more than that being produced by the cigarettes. Smoking shisha especially indoors can collapse the body’s natural defence mechanisms which will not facilitate oxygen to reach the brain.
More exposures of shisha can cause flue like symptoms such as headaches, running noses and sore eyes. Medium exposure can result in to dizziness and sickness while extreme exposures can result in unconsciousness, brain damage and death.

Carbon monoxide is not visible, that’s why many people believe that water cleans the tobacco making it less hazardous, unlike the cigarettes which leave stains on the tissue for example. Hillary Warren elaborated more on this misconception by saying that “How long will it take you to smoke a cigarette… two minutes, but shisha lasts half an hour and sometimes an hour”

A restaurant manager Akram believes that Smoking shisha is different that smoking cigarette because shisha is taken in to the mouth to taste the flavour and then exhaled, while cigarettes are inhaled directly in to your lungs so more smoke is taken in to the body.

Carbon monoxide should be only fifty in the body, excess might be risky. A continuous process of smoking shisha may cause strokes and heart attacks.

The documentary was very interesting for me because I used to believe that shisha is less hazardous than cigarettes and I was proven wrong.


There were around ten music samples as music background in the audio documentary. The duration was from 1 to 3 minutes each, and they were not the same, some of which were Indian, others were Arabic, English…etc. The samples were very interesting as it created an Asian atmosphere and made the audio documentary more interesting especially that it was a long documentary. However, I noticed that the music was loud at first and gradually started to get lower and lower. It did not match the flow of the documentary because it could make the listeners get bored or even sleep. Loud music is not also a smart thing because it attract attention more than the announcer, but at least it enthusiasms the listener to hear and be more alert.

Regarding the announcer’s voice, I felt it was very clear despite the music going on in the background. And the sentences were understandable that I got what she said from the first time. Moreover, I liked the way she interviewed people and talked between each guest and another. The announcer did make a very professional flow of her documentary that was appealing. However she should have minimized the documentary by interviewing less guests because it started to get boring at the end. And what I noticed is that very interesting information were showed during the first five minutes and the last ten minutes, and maybe some in the middle. So having very interesting information at the end is not smart because those who will get bored in the middle will not continue to hear till the end. I believe that interesting information should be divided equally among the time in order to keep the documentary as smooth as possible.

Hillary warren, the director of tobacco control collaboration centre had a British accent that I could not understand easily. On one hand, it is illogic to have guests with different accents because it makes it hard to follow up. But in the other hand, it made the documentary more interesting.

Caron Carter from the NA Chest stop smoking service was talking very fast as if someone was running after her! It was very hard to understand her from the first time. She even took clear large breaths between each sentence and another.

The voice I liked the best was Akram's voice, a man who runs a restaurant. Akram voice was clear and from his sentences he seemed very wise. I liked his tone of his speech and the way he clarified his points by giving examples to support his statements and beliefs.

To sum up, the voices of the guests were clear and understandable to a large degree. The only difference was the speed of the speeches. Some were talking slowly, others were talking fast. And it is very hard to tell your guests how to speak, but at the same time, the documentary sounded not alike.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/documentaries/troublewithhubblebubble.shtml