$4 Million for Organ Donor Doctors - But Will it Work?

Press Release

Andy Tookey
GiveLife NZ - Campaign for an Effective Organ Donation System
8 June 2012
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$4 Million for Organ Donor Doctors - But Will it Work?
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Minister of Health, Tony Ryall has announced that $4 Million will go towards organ donor initiatives.

As all the funding is going only into the medical side is he putting all his eggs in one basket?

I am all for more money being invested if it raises significantly the rate of organ donors which in turn saves many more lives.

The paired "mix and match" donor scheme which matches donors and recipients is a great advance.

In my petition to Parliament to improve the organ donor system I pushed for such a scheme.

That was ten years ago.

The money being provided is not actually to implement the scheme. It is a feasibility study only. I wonder how many lives would have been saved if it

was introduced ten years ago as I had asked for? How much longer after various studies are completed before it will be implemented?

As for deceased donors, $1 million dollars will be going towards ICU staff to identify potential donors.
As organ donors only come from Intensive Care Units one would have thought that this would have been compulsory training for ICU staff in the first place.
It always should have been a mandatory part of their training. To start this initiative now, ten years after I highlighted the failings of our organ donation system is scandalous.

Will them identifying potential donors increase the actual number of donors?

International research, including research recently conducted in Australia shows that up to 50% of families say no to the donation of organs of their loved ones.

As well as looking for potential donors there may be more 'bang for your buck' if you target the 50% who say no.
Public awareness and education may help prior to a major catastrophe facing the family.
Prior knowledge of organ donation and the known wishes of the deceased is surely much better than telling someone that their loved one has just died suddenly in an accident, 'and by the way can we have their organs?'

An incentive may help as well. I believe that organ donors funerals should be paid for by the government.
More people would give more consideration to being an organ donor if they thought it would take the financial burden off their family at an already traumatic time.

It would not be a payment for organs but a 'token of appreciation' for the saving of many lives. It may even raise the donor rate .

Around 6000 people a year get a funeral grant either through WINZ or ACC.
Yet oddly enough even though donors contribute hugely to the community and save the government heaps by getting others off expensive medical treatments, they are not eligible for a funeral grant.

In response to my Parliamentary Petition the Organ Donor Service argued that if they had more money they could increase the organ donor rate by 15%.
They got what they asked for, including a total rebranding, half a million dollars up front, a doubling of funding and a doubling of staff.

The following year the donor rate plummeted to an all time record low of just 28 donors.

A few year ago National MP Jackie Blue introduced a Private Members Bill that would provide for a legally binding organ donor register.
This time the Organ Donor Service suggested that there is no need for one, as due to lesser head injuries and better medical interventions there are 'just no more donors.'

It's interesting that once again we have come full circle and that there 'ARE' more donors, it's just that we need more money to identify them (again.)

I would like to see some of the money invested in non medical initiatives such as funeral grants, and even more radical concepts such as an 'opt out' donor register as opposed to our current 'opt in' system.
Maybe a revisit of the Binding Donor Register, or move over to the controversial but successful Israel system of donors getting priority over non donors if both need a transplant.
Such a scheme is advocated for in New Zealand by LifeSharers (http://www.lifesharers.org.nz)

Some measures may not by palatable to some people. Their views may change dramatically if they find that themselves or one of their family needs an organ to survive.
Only around 52% of drivers have 'donor' on their driving licence. What percentage of drivers though would accept an organ if they needed one to live?
Remember, with no organ donors there are no recipients either.

If any government is serious about saving lives they need to consider more radical options.
Either way there needs to be an urgent serious debate otherwise we will remain amongst the lowest in the world for our organ donor rate.

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