The Facts On Organ And Tissue Transplantation.
Illawarra Mercury
Friday June 30, 2000
* Transplants save lives.
* Over 90 per cent of transplants are
successful.
* Heart, lung, kidney, liver, pancreas, cornea, and bone marrow (for leukaemia), small/large intestine, skin, bone and heart valves can be
transplanted successfully.
* With the ever advancing medical expertise, every Australian can be considered a potential organ and tissue recipient.
* Australian laws governing organ donation are based on the "opting in" system where individuals may choose to donate organs, as opposed to an "opting out" where consent is assumed if there is no recorded objection.
* 3500 children and adults are currently waiting for a transplant in Australia, 20 per cent of whom will die waiting.
* There are insufficient organs available to meet the demand for transplantation in Australia. We need to raise organ and tissue donation awareness.
* Transplantation is cost-effective by releasing the recipient from chronic unemployment and expensive long-term health care.
* 5600 kidney patients were on dialysis in Australia as of March 1999, at a cost of $45,000 pa per dialysis patient.
* Financial costs are over $200 million per year to support people on dialysis in Australia.
* Social costs are also enormous; dialysis patients usually don't work, require welfare, are marginated in the community and need a carer at home for the full time they are undergoing dialysis. If dialysed in hospital, nurses need to be present.
* There is a greater chance that an Australian will require a transplant than ever being in a position of potential donor.
© 2000 Illawarra Mercury