LAST February 28, the Philippines attempted a Guinness World Record for the most number of organ-donor sign ups.
The world record attempt was held in six sites; Davao, Polytechnic University of the Philippines (Manila), Marikina City, La Union, Naga and Tuguegarao.
The event was spearheaded by the Department of Health-Philippine Network of Organ Sharing (DOH-PhilNOS) and the Philippine Information Agency with the support of government agencies and hospitals, local government offices and private companies.
The attempt aims to dislodge the record held by India set last year. The current record is 2,755 sign-ups for one hour (single site) and 10,450 registrants for eight hours (single site). There is no current holder for multiple sites registration.
The sign-up process is easy and hassle-free; would-be donors fill up barcoded forms, then present it to scanner counters after which they have their photos taken which is the last step of the registration process.
The Davao leg was held at the Davao City Recreation Center (Almendras Gym) the activity started at 9 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m.
Davao fell short of the Indian record as the city recorded 944 sign-ups in a single hour and 1,941 people who registered for eight hours.
PUP Manila overtook India's record for a single hour registration with 3,548 registrants. But it failed to reset the eight-hour record. The country's six sites registered 17,856 registrants which if validated by Guinness will stand as a world record.
However, breaking the record is not the main goal of the activity but the event serves as a public awareness campaign to allay misconceptions about organ donation.
The country only has a low recorded ration of organ donors, a figure of 0.03 percent out of a million population. Spain has 32 organ donors for a million people while the US has 26 donors for a million population.