FAR too many people die waiting for transplants when South Africans could be saving lives by pledging their vital organs.
According to the Organ Donor Foundation about 4 300 South African people are waiting for life-saving organ and cornea transplants.
Last year there were 566 organ transplants. Fewer than the 573 of 2012.
One of the reasons for such low organ transplant numbers is lack of education, said Samantha Volschenk, executive director of the Organ Donor Foundation.
"Some people have never heard about organ donation."
Volschenk said they were working on reaching as many people as possible.
"Our aim is for 500 000 of the population to sign up as organ donors in the next five years."
Another reason for the low numbers is the lack of referrals from hospitals.
"A potential donor is someone who is brain dead or on a life-support machine.
"If the hospitals don't get permission from the family to donate the organs, we lose out on that," Volschenk said.
In terms of black people not donating because of cultural issues, Volschenk said one-on-one education is the key to changing those perceptions.
"When someone has an accident and they are severely disfigured it doesn't mean they will be disfigured in the afterlife."
Giving organs can be seen as a gift that keeps on giving because one organ donor could save seven lives.
"One heart, up to two lungs, two kidneys, a pancreas and liver, could save seven people," Volschenk explained.
Bone marrow, corneas, heart valves and even skin can help improve someone's life by 50%.
She said the foundation accepts anyone willing to be a donor.
"Usually we say anyone who is HIV positive, has active cancer or is diabetic and on insulin is not viable but it is actually the hospital that makes the final decision on which organs can be used so we accept anyone open to organ donation," she said.
Low numbers of organ donors means that there are people who are dying while waiting for an organ.
Part of the reason is that some people who could get the organs have no access to them.
Donations need to be managed
GRAHAM Anderson, the principal officer at Profmed medical aid scheme, said there is a need for an independent body to manage organ donations.
This body would not be affiliated with any hospital or private healthcare group.
"There is a fragmented organ donor system in the country and because of this those who need them most don't get the transplants," Anderson said.
He said, for example, a patient might desperately need a heart in a hospital in Johannesburg and a viable one becomes available in a hospital in Cape Town, but it would most probably be given to a patient in Cape Town above the Johannesburg patient in dire need for it, simply because they may not even know someone in Johannesburg needed that organ.
He said if a body was established and plans implemented properly, then organ transplants could easily reach 1000 instead of the 566 that it does.
"This would require huge buy-in from the healthcare industry, including hospitals, physicians and medical schemes and, if successful, an independent coordinating body would provide a central point at which organs can be accessed."
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Cultural convictions deprive others of life - Organ donor can save seven lives
FAR too many people die waiting for transplants when South Africans could be saving lives by pledging their vital organs.
According to the Organ Donor Foundation about 4 300 South African people are waiting for life-saving organ and cornea transplants.
Last year there were 566 organ transplants. Fewer than the 573 of 2012.
One of the reasons for such low organ transplant numbers is lack of education, said Samantha Volschenk, executive director of the Organ Donor Foundation.
"Some people have never heard about organ donation."
Volschenk said they were working on reaching as many people as possible.
"Our aim is for 500 000 of the population to sign up as organ donors in the next five years."
Another reason for the low numbers is the lack of referrals from hospitals.
"A potential donor is someone who is brain dead or on a life-support machine.
"If the hospitals don't get permission from the family to donate the organs, we lose out on that," Volschenk said.
In terms of black people not donating because of cultural issues, Volschenk said one-on-one education is the key to changing those perceptions.
"When someone has an accident and they are severely disfigured it doesn't mean they will be disfigured in the afterlife."
Giving organs can be seen as a gift that keeps on giving because one organ donor could save seven lives.
"One heart, up to two lungs, two kidneys, a pancreas and liver, could save seven people," Volschenk explained.
Bone marrow, corneas, heart valves and even skin can help improve someone's life by 50%.
She said the foundation accepts anyone willing to be a donor.
"Usually we say anyone who is HIV positive, has active cancer or is diabetic and on insulin is not viable but it is actually the hospital that makes the final decision on which organs can be used so we accept anyone open to organ donation," she said.
Low numbers of organ donors means that there are people who are dying while waiting for an organ.
Part of the reason is that some people who could get the organs have no access to them.
Donations need to be managed
GRAHAM Anderson, the principal officer at Profmed medical aid scheme, said there is a need for an independent body to manage organ donations.
This body would not be affiliated with any hospital or private healthcare group.
"There is a fragmented organ donor system in the country and because of this those who need them most don't get the transplants," Anderson said.
He said, for example, a patient might desperately need a heart in a hospital in Johannesburg and a viable one becomes available in a hospital in Cape Town, but it would most probably be given to a patient in Cape Town above the Johannesburg patient in dire need for it, simply because they may not even know someone in Johannesburg needed that organ.
He said if a body was established and plans implemented properly, then organ transplants could easily reach 1000 instead of the 566 that it does.
"This would require huge buy-in from the healthcare industry, including hospitals, physicians and medical schemes and, if successful, an independent coordinating body would provide a central point at which organs can be accessed."
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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