Significant increase in organ donations

THERE HAS been a significant increase in the number of organ donations this year from people who have died, with the numbers for the first nine months exceeding those for all of 2010.

However the Republic continues to perform poorly when compared to similar-sized European states.

With 77 deceased donors so far this year compared with just 58 in 2010, the renal transplantation unit at Beaumont Hospital has been able to carry out 161 kidney transplants and six pancreas transplants. Some 24 of the 161 kidney transplants came from living donors. To date there have been four heart transplants and eight lung transplants carried out at the Mater hospital this year.

In 2010, just 98 deceased donor kidney transplants were performed, the first time in 22 years that the number of transplants dropped below 100.

“Kidney transplantation in particular is heading for a record year with much help from the growing living kidney donor transplant programme,” Mark Murphy of the Irish Kidney Association said. “The ground lost in 2010 should be completely recovered by the end of the year.”

After last year’s dramatic drop in deceased organ donation, the association said it was concerned families of potential donors in hospital were not being approached because of staffing shortages and work pressures in intensive care units in some hospitals.

At the time, Mr Murphy said it appeared hospitals needed help to reverse the trend and he called for the appointment of at least 12 donor co-ordinators to work with staff in intensive care units across the country. However there are currently no donor co-ordinators in the health system.

The latest European figures show Ireland dropped to 22nd place from 10th in 2010 in a league table for deceased organ donation rates. Last year’s 23 living kidney transplants placed the Republic in 15th place out of 32 countries who conduct that transplantation.

Croatia, a similar-sized country to Ireland with a population of 4.4 million people, is in second place for deceased organ donations – up from 14th in 2009. It now tops the European kidney and liver transplant league and is in third position for heart transplantation. In 2010 Croatia achieved a per million population donor rate of 30, while the Republic’s rate was 12.6. This follows a reorganisation of donation structures in Croatia and the appointment of co-ordinators in major hospitals.

With just three heart transplants performed, the Republic languishes in third-last position in the European table. In contrast Croatia carried out 36 heart transplants, while Luxembourg, with a population of half a million people, managed to perform the same number of cardiac transplants last year as Ireland.