'Organ transplantation covers only 10 percent of global need'
Deutsche Welle
WHO specialist Dr. Luc Noel tells DW in an interview that a money-driven system of organ donation benefits the rich at the expense of the poor. He calls for a strictly regulated system focused on patient need.
Deutsche Welle: Dr. Noel, June 1st is World Organ Donor Day. Doctors around the world are calling on people to declare themselves ready to become organ donors. But many people hesitate with the decision, not least because abuse and the illegal trade in organs continue unabated. The situation is particularly dramatic in developing countries where there are large income gaps between the rich and poor. What can be done to prevent abuse?
Dr Luc Noel: It is about recognizing power and the willingness to use that power. That power does exist: this is the government; this is the responsibility of the health system and a health system that knows very well that improving, increasing, access to kidney transplantation will pay back. Transplantation is the best, cost-effective solution for a patient with end-stage kidney disease. It is the best for the patient in terms of life expectancy, in terms of quality of life, but it is also the best for society, for healthcare expenditure compared to alternatives.
So everybody has an interest in developing transplantation. If you or I would need an organ, we would expect to have one. Who can be responsible? Society. Why? Because you cannot rely on living donors only. It is often necessary; it is a resource particularly for kidneys, because there's a small risk in donating a kidney. But the best source is organs donated after death. There are regularly people dying of having been a living donor. It's rare, but it happens and there are consequences. What does not do harm to anyone is organs donated after death.
To do this, you need a system. It has to be a pre-existing organization that will request the donation and work at matching it - like Eurotransplant does - with a recipient. So this organization is an investment. A society willing to provide a transplantation service needs to invest, needs to organize but also needs to check that things are well carried out - that the trust of the public is well-justified. We need to have confidence because we are all actors there.
Continue reading
______________________________________________________
"You have the power to SAVE lives."
To register as a donor in California:
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org
Outside California:
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.
WHO specialist Dr. Luc Noel tells DW in an interview that a money-driven system of organ donation benefits the rich at the expense of the poor. He calls for a strictly regulated system focused on patient need.
Deutsche Welle: Dr. Noel, June 1st is World Organ Donor Day. Doctors around the world are calling on people to declare themselves ready to become organ donors. But many people hesitate with the decision, not least because abuse and the illegal trade in organs continue unabated. The situation is particularly dramatic in developing countries where there are large income gaps between the rich and poor. What can be done to prevent abuse?
Dr Luc Noel: It is about recognizing power and the willingness to use that power. That power does exist: this is the government; this is the responsibility of the health system and a health system that knows very well that improving, increasing, access to kidney transplantation will pay back. Transplantation is the best, cost-effective solution for a patient with end-stage kidney disease. It is the best for the patient in terms of life expectancy, in terms of quality of life, but it is also the best for society, for healthcare expenditure compared to alternatives.
So everybody has an interest in developing transplantation. If you or I would need an organ, we would expect to have one. Who can be responsible? Society. Why? Because you cannot rely on living donors only. It is often necessary; it is a resource particularly for kidneys, because there's a small risk in donating a kidney. But the best source is organs donated after death. There are regularly people dying of having been a living donor. It's rare, but it happens and there are consequences. What does not do harm to anyone is organs donated after death.
To do this, you need a system. It has to be a pre-existing organization that will request the donation and work at matching it - like Eurotransplant does - with a recipient. So this organization is an investment. A society willing to provide a transplantation service needs to invest, needs to organize but also needs to check that things are well carried out - that the trust of the public is well-justified. We need to have confidence because we are all actors there.
Continue reading
______________________________________________________
"You have the power to SAVE lives."
To register as a donor in California:
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org
Outside California:
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.
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