Media Release Feb 17 2008

Organ Donor Awareness Week

Royal North Shore Hospital joins efforts to encourage organ and tissue donation as more than 1800 Australians wait for a transplant

The message for this Organ Donor Awareness Week from February 17 - 24 2008 is “Register Today” and Royal North Shore Hospital is encouraging the general public to act today to register as an organ and tissue donor.

In 2007 there were 53 Organ Donors across NSW with 175 transplants performed in this state, and nearly half of those people waiting for an organ transplant live in NSW.

A study commissioned by Australians Donate, the national peak body of organ donation found that more than 90% of the general public support organ and tissue donation and the life saving benefits it offers to those people needing an organ transplant.

However, the number of people registering as potential organ and tissue donors needs to increase to make transplantation available to those Australians hoping for a second chance at life.

Sadly, twenty percent of those people waiting for a heart, lung or liver transplant will die before receiving a life saving transplant.

“Many people who support organ and tissue donation delay registering, or in some cases they are not fully aware of the process involved” said Sally Abraham, Organ and Tissue Donation Collaboration Co-ordinator at Royal North Shore Hospital.

“We want to encourage the public to find out more about organ donation and to make informed decisions to register today!

“Also many ‘Nos’ on drivers licence applications and renewals come from people who ‘opt out’ because they don’t know a lot about the organ donation process, yet their decision to become an organ donor can save up to ten lives.

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