Dire warning over shortage of organs

AT least one person could die each month unless a shortage of organs for patients awaiting heart transplants is addressed.

Cardiothoracic surgeon at Dublin’s Mater Hospital, Freddie Wood, told a conference that more than one-in-four patients die within six months of being placed on a waiting list for transplants. At present, there are 24 patients awaiting a transplant who face up to 10 months on a waiting list.

The number of annual transplants has plummeted in recent years, from 20 in the mid-1990s to just seven last year.

Dr Wood was also quoted in the Irish Medical Times as saying that many donors were rejected due to their smoking habits and weight issues, while the number of transplant recipients who have already had heart surgery is double that of 20 years ago. “Twice the number of patients on the list have had previous heart surgery compared to 20 years ago,” he said. “Sixty per cent of the patients that die could be salvaged and we need more quality donors.”

He also said the practice of using non-beating hearts in transplants may again have to be addressed if the shortage continues.

He also claimed that out of the 70 available donors in 2004, just seven were used for heart transplants.

Irish Heart Foundation medical director Dr Vincent Maher said it should be easier for people to become donors and that cultural change was required so that “everyone is a donor unless you don’t want to be a donor”. However, he said he did not have information to show that the donor pool was diminishing.

Meanwhile, the Irish Heart Foundation has pledged to conduct a nationwide review of stroke services and has called for the development of specialist stroke units in each of their 41 acute hospitals.

The group also hailed National Irish Bank’s decision to nominate the IHF as its charity partner for 2005.

The bank will make a corporate donation of 25,000 to the IHF and raise money through various schemes, including a 6 donation to the IHF for every charity bond opened or reinvested. The funds will be used to benefit quality of life for stroke victims. About 9,500 people have a stroke in Ireland every year.