Donor shortage blamed for delay in Ireland’s first lung transplant

A DONOR shortage has been blamed for the delay in the first lung transplant to be performed in Ireland.

The cardiothoracic surgery team at Dublin’s Mater Hospital have been on call since September in the event of a suitable donor being found. There are 25 people in Ireland who desperately need a lung transplant.

Six have been chosen to have the procedure conducted in Ireland, while a further 18 will have to go to Britain for the chance of surgery, if and when suitable donor organs become available. The process of establishing a transplant unit in Ireland began in 1998 when a contract was awarded to Freeman Hospital in Newcastle to deal with Irish patients.