Data released today reveals the true impact the Coronavirus pandemic had on life-saving organ donation and transplantation rates in 2020, prompting calls for more people to register as a donor.
\nNational organ donation and transplant data for 2020, released by federal Minister responsible for the Organ and Tissue Authority, Mark Coulton, shows while Australia\u2019s donation rate has doubled over the past decade, the national program took a hit in 2020 due to COVID-19.
\n\u201cAustralians from all walks of life faced great challenges and adversity in 2020 and those waiting for life-changing organ transplants were no different,\u201d Minister Coulton said.
\n\u201cLast year saw a 12 per cent reduction in the number of people receiving a transplant and a 16 per cent decrease in organ donors, compared to 2019.
\n\u201cMost significantly, 18 per cent fewer kidney transplants were performed, resulting in 153 fewer renal patients receiving the kidney transplant they need.\u201d
\nMinister Coulton said the 2020 data exceeds earlier predictions, which serves as a testament to the highly-skilled DonateLife teams, as well as dedicated donation and transplantation staff across the country.
\nOrgan and Tissue Authority CEO, Lucinda Barry, said at the start of the pandemic, the transplant sector took precautionary steps and suspended kidney transplant programs from late-March through to mid-May.
\nThis was due to the concern about hospitals being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients and also to prevent transplant patients at high risk being exposed to the virus. Urgent heart, lung, liver and paediatric transplants continued during this time for critically ill patients.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not surprising to see that the 2020 outcomes have been impacted, but minimising the risks to transplant and waiting list patients has been the priority for everyone involved,\u201d Ms Barry said.
\n\u201cTo minimise the impacts, our DonateLife teams worked hard with transplant teams to navigate the challenges facing hospitals and with logistics \u2014 including with COVID-19 restrictions, flight reductions and border closures \u2014 so that patients received the best possible outcomes.\u201d
\nMinister Coulton said despite the obvious impacts, 1,270 Australian lives were saved in 2020 through an organ transplant thanks to the generosity of 463 deceased organ donors and their families.
\n\u201cFamilies have continued to show their strength and generosity in agreeing to donation, even with the added COVID-19 complexities in intensive care units,\u201d Minister Coulton said.
\n\u201cAround 1,650 Australians are waitlisted for a transplant and more than 12,000 others are on dialysis \u2014 many of whom may need a kidney transplant.
\n\u201cThe best chance we have to address the challenge of a longer waitlist is to have more Australians say \u2018yes\u2019 to donation.\u201d
\nMinister Coulton said data shows that registering to become a donor and talking to your family about your decision has a direct influence on consent rates, so encouraged people to have the chat and register today.
\nTo register to become a donor or to double-check your registration, visit: donatelife.gov.au .
\nLiving organ donation and eye and tissue donation outcomes will soon be released in the Organ and Tissue Authority\u2019s 2020 Activity Report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Data released today reveals the true impact the Coronavirus pandemic had on life-saving organ donation and transplantation rates in 2020, prompting calls for more people to register as a donor. National organ donation and transplant data for 2020, released by federal Minister responsible for the Organ and Tissue Authority, Mark Coulton, shows while Australia\u2019s donation … Continue reading “2020 national organ donation outcomes released”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}