PETALING JAYA: Malaysia continues to be in a dire state regarding organ donations, with the National Transplant Resource Centre (NTRC) confirming that a total of 9,254 patients are on the waiting list.
Of the number, 398 children are desperately waiting for kidney transplants while five need livers.
The numbers for adults are even more alarming, with 8,828 requiring kidney transplants, 15 needing hearts, two waiting for lungs, one for a liver and five in need of both heart and lung transplants.
In light of this, Kiwanis Malaysia district immediate past governor Rosemary Tan took up the challenge in 2023 by collaborating with NTRC to double the number of organ pledges by September next year.
“While organ donation is not new in Malaysia, interest in it has remained limited, with few Malaysians having made pledges. To double the number, we are embarking on a mission to raise awareness on the matter,” she said.
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Kiwanis Malaysia is partnering with Pixlepost Sdn Bhd to organise the “Gift of Life” video competition, which will offer the ultimate prize of scholarships from Claz’room College, a creative multimedia digital art college.
Participants must produce a compelling video to tell a powerful story of organ donation with the theme “Gift of Life”.
“Many children and adults are in desperate need of organs. With very few pledgers, we believe educating young people about this can influence them to become donors and save lives,” Tan said, adding that Claz’room College sponsored the top three scholarship prizes, each worth RM10,000.
She said Kiwanis Malaysia’s goal in launching the “Gift of Life” organ donation video competition is to make the campaign go viral as an education initiative.
“This will support NTRC in meeting its priorities, which are to raise awareness about transplantation and expand the pool of organ pledges through the MySejahtera app.
“The competition aims to address the shortage of organ donors by engaging youth with a positive message, channelling their creativity as a unifying force for good, and driving a significant increase in organ donations across Malaysia.”
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Claz’room College co-founder and managing director Tung Yan Ning said the college is happy to collaborate with Kiwanis Malaysia and NTRC to support the mission.
“We believe in nurturing creative talents who excel in their craft and embrace the spirit of giving. Our partnership will help empower the next generation of creative leaders and support their journey in the digital arts.”
The video competition will feature seven categories with three formats – a 60-second clip, a three-minute video and a 10-minute short story.
Each video must be posted on social media to inspire viewers to become organ donors and highlight the life-saving impact of pledging organs. They must showcase the “Gift of Life” campaign, illustrating the hope and impact on patients waiting for transplants.
The 10-minute short story will weave together these themes, providing education on organ transplants and sharing NTRC’s mission.
The competition is open to primary school pupils aged six to 12, with a RM300 first prize and RM100 second prize for the 60-second social media video section.
Secondary school students aged 13 to 17 are encouraged to create 60-second videos to vie for RM300 for first place and RM100 for second.
For the three-minute video, the first prize is RM600 and the second prize is RM300. For participants aged 18 to 25, the three-minute video offers RM800 for the first prize and RM400 for the second prize, while the 10-minute video first prize winner will receive RM2,000, with RM1,000 for the runner-up.
The videos must be shared across platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. The closing date for video submissions is Nov 30.
For more information, please email r.tan@kiwanis.org.my.
