Federal Regional Health Minister David Gillespie reveals that the rate of new registrations for organ donation has seen an 87 per cent year-on-year growth in Australia.
The 2021 Australian Donation and Transplantation Activity Report confirmed that despite a further drop in donation and transplantation rates last year, public support for donation was increasing.
“We saw 350,000 more Aussies getting behind organ and tissue donation in 2021, registering to be donors at a rate never seen before,” Dr Gillespie said.
“It’s heart-warming to see that even during the toughest of times, Australians understand the importance of donation and have joined the seven million other Australians on the Australian Organ Donor Register.”
“Importantly, 1174 Australian lives were saved in 2021 through an organ transplant, due to the generosity of 421 deceased organ donors and their families.”
Dr Gillespie said that while record-breaking new registrations were a step in the right direction, the strain that COVID-19 had put on the Australian healthcare system continued to be felt.
There was a nine per cent decrease in the number of organ donors and a seven per cent decrease in the number of people who received a transplant during 2021, compared to 2020.
Overall, this equates to a 25 per cent drop in donation and transplantation activity from pre-COVID levels seen in 2019.
“Despite the drop, donation and transplants continued throughout the year, which is testament to a highly skilled workforce of doctors and nurses who helped to minimise risk,” Dr Gillespie said.
“Australian Donate Life teams worked with transplant teams to navigate the challenges created by COVID — including pressure on hospitals, staff impacts, restricted family visits in hospitals, and logistics impacting the national program, such as flight reductions and border closures.”
There were 200 people who received a kidney from a living donor in 2021, more than 2400 people with restored eyesight through a corneal transplant, and over 10,000 people who received tissue transplants.
“There are around 1850 Australians who are wait-listed for an organ transplant and an additional 13,000 people on dialysis — some who may need a kidney transplant one day,” Dr Gillespie said.
“The best chance we have to address the challenge of the longer wait-list is to have more Australians say “yes” to donation — both yes to registering and yes in the hospital if there is the opportunity to donate.”
Head to donatelife.gov.au to register or sign up through the Express Plus Medicare app.
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