Canada

Organ Donation in Canada The current situation in Canada More than 3,700 Canadians are awaiting organ transplants for kidneys, hearts, lungs, or livers, and thousands of others are in need of replacements for tissues such as corneas, heart valves, bone grafts, and skin. Last year alone, 147 Canadians died while waiting for organs that never came because suitable donors were not found in time. Part of the problem lies with Canada having one of the lowest organ donation rates among industrialised nations. There are fewer than 14 donors per million people in this country, as compared with more than 31 in Spain. What's more, the gap between transplant patients on waiting lists and numbers of available organs is widening. There's good news The numbers above paint a picture that is hard to face. However, there is some good news: * Nearly 98% of all kidney transplants, 90% of liver transplants, and 85% of heart transplants are successful; * More than 1,800 organ transplants were performed in Canadian hospitals in 2000; * Donor families say they are comforted by the feeling that their loved one's death was not in vain. This gives Canadians all the more reason to take the time to make their wishes known either by filling out their province's organ donor card or registering their wishes through a provincial registry.