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Organ donors grind
out new record
New figures released by the Australia and New Zealand Organ Donation Registry (ANZOD) and the Organ and Tissue Authority show that Australia produced its highest ever number of organ donors in 2011.
Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing, Catherine King said the outcomes in 2011 showed that efforts to boost organ and tissue donation rates continued to have an impact.
“As well as the national DonateLife community awareness program, the reform agenda includes a clinical network of specialist organ and tissue donation staff in 77 hospitals,” Ms King said.
| Donation program succeeding |
She said all were working to improve organ and tissue donation rates and outcomes, providing specialised family support services and raising awareness in their clinical communities.
Chair of the ANZOD, Professor Graeme Russ said a total of 337 Australians who lost their lives in 2011 had saved or improved the lives of 1,001 people in need of an organ transplant.
“This is the highest annual total of deceased organ donors and transplant recipients in Australia’s history,” Professor Russ said.
“Australia’s 2011 donation outcome of 337 donors translates to an increase of an additional 28 donors for the year, above the 2010 outcome of 309 donors.”
He said that was a 9 per cent increase.
“The 2011 total of 1,001 transplant recipients translates to an increase of an additional 70 recipients for the year, above the 2010 outcome of 931 recipients,” he said.
“This is an 8 per cent increase above the previous year.”
National Medical Director of the Organ and Tissue Authority, Dr Jonathan Gillis said 2011 marked the second full year of implementation of the national reform agenda to increase organ and tissue donation.
“The 2011 outcomes lift Australia’s donor per million population (dpmp) rate to 14.9, an increase of 4.7 dpmp since the commencement of the national reform agenda,” Dr Gillis said.
“The majority of States reported increases in 2011, with the most significant rises being in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.”
Edition 255, 25 January 2012
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