Dialysis treatments up up 14% in 12 months

The Irish Kidney Association has expressed concern about the increasing number of people needing kidney transplants in Ireland.

The association said today that the numbers requiring dialysis treatment had increased by 14% over the past 12 months and had trebled in the past 14 years.

It said organ donations had remained static during this time, with an average of 135 transplants being carried out every year.

The IKA said the Government could address the problem by establishing a working group on transplantation as it promised to do two years ago.

It has also called for fully-trained “organ procurement co-ordinators” to be deployed in all intensive care units in the country.