VICTORIAN ORGAN DONORS SAVE EVEN MORE LIVES IN 2014

In 2014, the number of Victorians who donated their organs at death reached 117,exceeding the previous record outcome of 110 deceased organ donors in 2013, according to the latest national data released.

This is the highest ever annual outcome for any state and territory in Australia.
DonateLife Victoria State Medical Director and National Medical Director of the Organ and Tissue Authority, Dr Helen Opdam commended the generosity of organ donors and their families.

“Their generous decisions to say ‘yes’ to donation have transformed the lives of 352 Australians and their families – that’s 66 more people than the year before,“ she said.

Of the 369 actual organs transplanted from Victorian donors in 2014, there were 202 kidneys, 64 livers, 53 lungs, 31 hearts, 13 pancreases, 1 heart-lung and 5 pancreas islets.

“Thousands of Australians are alive today because of the decisions families made at a time of loss for their loved one to be an organ donor. On behalf of the Victorian community I thank each and every one of these families for their generosity,” Dr Opdam said.

Dr Opdam acknowledged the important contribution made by Victoria’s donation and transplantation sector, “I thank our dedicated DonateLife Victoria and hospital transplantation staff across Victoria for their extraordinary commitment and determination to continue to increase our donation rates in order to save and transform more lives.”

“We cannot stop here – over 1600 Australians are on organ transplant waiting lists at any time and organ donation is only possible in less than 1% of all hospital deaths’, Dr Opdam said.

“So to save even more lives, I ask that we all do our part today by discovering the facts about organ and tissue donation, deciding and registering that decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register and discussing it with our loved ones,” Dr Opdam said.

Families who have discussed and know the donation decision of their loved ones almost always say ‘yes’ to donation proceeding. One organ and tissue donor can transform 10 or more lives –and your conversation with your family today could one day save lives. Visit www.donatelife.gov.au for more information.