1.9m drivers elect to donate organs
More than half of all New Zealand drivers have ticked ‘‘donor’’ on their driver licences, according to official figures.
The New Zealand Transport Agency data comes on the back of 100 public submissions on a Ministry of Health-led review aimed at improving organ donation rates, and looking at what role the licence register should play.
Barring the 75-plus age group, willing donors were in the majority for every age group, when compared with those who indicated no, or left the space blank.
Of the country’s 3.5 million legal drivers, 1.9m have indicated ‘‘donor’’ on their licences.
Last year, there were 61 dead organ donors.
Making the driver licence system an effective register is one of the proposals the ministry has suggested in the review. It says this could be done through better information, and more opportunities to update donor preferences.
Twenty-eight respondents agreed that there needed to be improvements to the country’s driver licence system. Six submitters partially agreed, while 21 disagreed.
Others said that New Zealand needed a standalone national body tasked with co-ordinating organ transplants.
At present, only medical practitioners have access to the national driver licence register.
Several submissions suggested changing the Land Transport Act to provide register access to more health professionals, starting with donor co-ordinators.
Organ Donation New Zealand (ODNZ) has said the baseline for determining the number of potential donors is almost impossible to gauge, because of the range of caveats that must be considered before someone can become a donor.
Organ donation is possible only when a person is on a ventilator in an intensive care unit, usually with severe brain damage. Fewer than 1 per cent of all deaths happen this way, according to ODNZ.
Ministry of Health regulatory policy group manager Hannah Cameron said the national strategy was nearing completion. ‘‘We cannot indicate a date for release, as final details are being worked through before it can be presented to the minister of health.’’
Organ donation should be seen as a shared priority across the health system – from the Government, the Ministry of Health, district health boards and hospitals, ODNZ clinical director Stephen Streat said in his submission.
‘‘Simply focusing on ‘leadership within ICUs’ will not lead to the necessary change in activity.’’
ODNZ did not support the establishment of a national register, nor public awareness campaigns, which it deemed ineffective.
However, funding for an extra 10 to 15 fulltime-equivalent ICU doctors and nurses nationwide would probably improve donation rates, Streat added.
His submission said the first priority should be on clinical settings, ‘‘especially in near-death brain dead donors, and when patients are admitted to ICU from the emergency department’’.
‘‘[T]hese are the areas within which it is clear that the largest potential for increasing rates of donation lie.’’
A submission by Max Reid, of Kidney Health New Zealand, was not supportive of a new register but said the existing licence system should be improved.
The current way of tagging a question about organ donation on to driver licence forms was problematic, ‘‘and there is no evidence of any information about the importance of registering as a donor being provided when licences are issued or renewed’’, Reid’s submission said.