The level of organ donations in the Republic has dropped dramatically, according to latest indications. Figures from the Irish Kidney Association and the Organ Procurement Centre in Beaumont Hospital show that in the first 12 weeks of this year, 10 donors have enabled 19 kidney, seven liver and two heart transplants to take place.
If this first-quarter trend continues for the rest of the year, it would represent a potential 40 per cent reduction in organ donations over previous years.
While organ donations can follow a cyclical pattern, the experience here is mirrored by transplant levels at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, where lung transplantation on Irish patients is carried out.
According to a spokesperson for the transplant co-ordinator's office in the UK hospital, there have been "more troughs than peaks" in the last number of months.
In three of the last four months the level of transplant activity at the hospital has dropped from eight to two operations per month.
Seventy-one donors donated their organs in the Republic in 2000. This enabled 126 kidney transplants to take place. In addition, there were 14 heart and 40 liver transplants, with the transplantation programme benefiting 180 people from these three procedures alone. Many more benefited from donated corneas and heart valves.
In 1999, 72 donors made organs available. In addition, there were 10 cases where relatives refused consent to donate. However, by 2000, the number of refusals of consent jumped to 25.
This significant increase in refusals in 2000 occurred in a year when the organ retention scandal occurred here. The Alder Hey retention scandal in the UK also received considerable publicity, leading some observers to link negative publicity over organ retention with a reduction in organ donation.
The Irish Kidney Association will this week launch its annual organ donation awareness week, which takes place from March 31st to April 7th. To counteract recent confusion in relation to organ retention and organ transplantation, the association will also announce details of an organ donation factfile, which will be distributed with organ donor cards.
It will answer some of the commonly asked questions about organ donation and transplantation.
There are currently 5,686 people awaiting organ transplantion in the Republic and the UK.