Troubling data has revealed the lack of organ and tissue donor uptake by Victorians in certain local government areas, according to research by The Australian Organ Donor Register.
This DonateLife Week, running from 24 July to 31 July, the AODR is encouraging people to sign up to the organ donor register, with registrations in the Yarra Ranges sitting around 27 per cent.
Nearby local government areas, Nillumbik and Murrindindi, have both made the top five areas with the highest registration numbers.
Research by ABC Talks 2021 found that of 60,000 polled, 4 out of 5 say they’d be willing to donate their organs when they die but barriers include they don’t know how to, they don’t think they’re healthy enough or simply haven’t got around to it.
DonateLife Victoria Medical Director Dr Rohit D’Costa also said when families have to make the decision on behalf of a loved one who may have just passed, it can be quite confronting.
“We know the biggest barrier to families saying ‘yes’ to donation is not knowing their family member wanted to be a donor,” Dr D’Costa said.
“In hospital, discussing organ and tissue donation comes at an intensely emotional time for families – usually when faced with the unexpected death of their loved one.
“When donation is possible, it helps when families know what their loved one wanted. Across Australia, nine in 10 families say yes to donation when their loved one was a registered donor, and this number is halved when a person is not registered and has not shared their wishes with their family.”
Around 22 per cent of people in Victoria are registered to be organ donors, a figure below the national average of 36 per cent.
With around 1,750 seriously ill people on Australia’s organ transplant waitlist and another 13,000 people on dialysis who may benefit from a kidney transplant, the demand for organs and tissue has never been greater.
Any Australian aged 16 and over can sign up online. It doesn’t matter how old you are, your medical history, your lifestyle, what country you’re from or how healthy you are – you can still register as an organ and tissue donor.
The Great Registration Race for DonateLife Week is on now to encourage 100,000 more Australians to register. One organ donor can save up to seven lives and help many more through eye and tissue donation.
It only takes one minute to register as an organ and tissue donor at donatelife.gov.au or just three taps in your Express Plus Medicare app. You can also use these channels to check and make sure you’re registered.
