More die waiting for kidney transplants

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More die waiting for kidney transplants
Article from: The Advertiser

TORY SHEPHERD

January 07, 2010 12:01am

SOUTH Australians are dying as they wait for organs, particularly kidneys.

The latest statistics show the death rates of people on dialysis, many of whom are waiting for kidney transplants, have increased to the highest level in 10 years and are above the national average.

Australia and New Zealand Organ Donation Registry figures show 1770 people nationally are on transplant waiting lists. Most are waiting for kidneys.

About 1500 people on dialysis died in 2008.

The Australian and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, works with ANZOD to track data on transplants and dialysis.

Its executive officer, Dr Stephen McDonald, said caution was needed interpreting the statistics, because people who died while on dialysis were not necessarily on waiting lists. They also are "crude" death rates.

However, demand for transplants exceeded supply, Dr McDonald said.

"There are people who are dying while waiting for all organs, but for kidneys as well," he said.

"(But) you can't assume that if we magically had 1500 transplants there would have been 1500 fewer deaths." Just 30 South Australians donated organs last year. Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the Government was working hard to improve the nation's organ donation rates from deceased donors.

She said many Australians were prepared to donate organs, but there was a "lack of success" at hospital level. Kidneys, unlike most major organs, can be donated by a living relative.

Prospect man David Low, 56, saved his brother's life by giving him a kidney. "My younger brother Jimmy is a diabetic. The insulin dependency knocks your kidneys around," he said.

"He was on dialysis for a long, long time - many years.

"It got to a stage where the dialysis just wasn't working as well as it should, which meant a kidney transplant. He asked me if I'd consider it and I just said yes straight away.

"Now, 11 years on, he's doing fine."

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,,26560330-2682,00.html