A TOTAL OF 293 people received the gift of new and enhanced life this year thanks to organ donations.
The Irish Kidney Association said that 2013 has been a record year for organ transplants in Ireland, with 293 organs transplanted compared to the previous record of 275 in 2011.
Highlights
The 2013 preliminary figures for organ donations are:
Transplants from deceased donors:
The IKA said that the highlight achievement of the past year was the “outstanding growth in lung transplantation in the Mater Hospital from a record 14 in 2012 to a staggering 32 in 2013″.
Over the previous four years of lung transplantation from 2009 to 2012, there was a total of 31 transplants.
For IKA, the year’s second highlight was the consistently record-breaking Living Donor kidney transplant program in Beaumont Hospital.
This programme had 38 living donors and resulting transplants this year, bringing the total number of living donor kidney transplants to 155 since the service began seven years ago.
Ten of the 245 people who benefited from the generosity of donors received two organs. There were 55 liver transplants performed in St Vincent’s Hospital and 11 heart transplants also conducted in the Mater Hospital.
Beaumont Hospital
In Beaumont Hospital, a total of 195 transplant operations took place. There were 185 kidney operations, of which 38 were from living donors and 147 from deceased donors, while 10 of the 147 also had simultaneous pancreas transplants.
The Beaumont Hospital transplant team carried out 233 operations in total in 2013.
Mark Murphy, Chief Executive of the Irish Kidney Association, described transplantation as “a national team effort”.
The public are an essential element of the team with their generosity to donate organs. The organ procurement service, the acute hospitals throughout the country and the three transplant teams from St Vincent’s, the Mater and Beaumont Hospitals have all achieved outstanding results in very difficult times for the health services.
He noted that the HSE 2014 Service Plan includes investment in management of organ donation nationally.
There are currently 550 people on transplant waiting lists, of which 480 are waiting for kidneys.
For organ donor cards, Freetext DONOR to 50050 or visit the Irish Kidney Association website. Smart phone users can download the Organ Donor E-card app from the App store or Android Play Store.
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