European transplants society says organ supply must increase
The European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) - Europe’s leading transplant society - has called for the universal backing of new schemes to safely and ethically increase donor organ numbers.
Philippe Morel, Professor of Surgery, University Hospital Geneva, Switzerland, said that, although around 89,000 organ transplants were performed globally last year, this number is still very low compared to existing needs. ‘Even in developed countries, where health systems are well organised and organ donation is publicly promoted, the number of people waiting for a transplant is over 200,000,’ he pointed out.
Leo Bühler, Associate Professor of Surgery, University Hospital Geneva, Switzerland, added: ‘There are also wide inter-country discrepancies in organ donation rates. In Spain, for example, rates are relatively high, at 34.6 donors per million inhabitants. By contrast, in Switzerland, we only have 12.6 donors per million inhabitants.’
Professor Bühler said that WHO initiatives (www.who.int/transplantation) and schemes such as the International Organisation Fair Transplant’s ‘A Gift for Life’ donor scheme could help overcome this shortage. He highlighted the need to make more use of living donation to overcome the limited supply of organs from deceased donors, but said that health authorities must carefully oversee the procurement of living donor organs in order to control risks for both donor and recipient.
This article was published on 05/01/2006