Lack of infrastructure blamed for organ donation shortage

Irish people are willing to donate organs, but a lack of infrastructure is leading to shortages, it was claimed today.

Speaking at the national launch of Organ Donor Awareness Week at the Mansion House in Dublin today, Irish Kidney Association chief executive Mark Murphy said: "The willingness of the Irish public to donate is not the problem when it comes to organ donation.

"It is the lack of the required infrastructure, an organ donor registry and the employment of fully trained organ donor coordinators in all our hospitals.

This is proven by the top 10 European donating countries that have identified and invested in infrastructure to achieve 30 donors per million of population (pmp) successfully and affordably."

The Irish Kidney Association also welcomed the calling by the National Organ Procurement Service for an audit of activity on potential organ donors in hospitals which would identify where improvements might be made and address the ‘unpredictability’ from year to year.

2010 was almost a record low for organ donation, 2011 was a record high and 2012, at 17% less than the previous year, was below average.

"I don’t know of another European country, even of a similar size population, with such wide swings in deceased donor activity,” said Mr Murphy.

The annual organ donor awareness campaign is organised by the Irish Kidney Association and supported by the Irish Donor Network. It will take place from March 30 until April 6, 2013.

Organ Donor Cards can also be obtained on www.ika.ie, by phoning the Irish Kidney Association LoCall 1890 543639 or by Freetexting the word DONOR to 50050.

It is now possible to store an organ donor card, the ‘ecard’, on Smart mobile phones by searching for ‘Donor ECard’ at the iPhone Store or Android Marketplace.