Kidney donations fail to meet demand: Canadian report

More people are lining up to donate kidneys. Throughout the 1990s, the numbers rose by more than 200 per cent. But the increase hasn't kept up with the demand, a report shows.

The number of people on the waiting list for kidney transplants rose by 82 per cent over the last decade.

• MORE SCIENCE NEWS from: cbc.ca/science

The report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) suggests Canada can't meet the need for kidneys because not enough organs are harvested from dead donors.

This is the major barrier to transplantation, according to Dr. Paul Grieg, director of the Canadian Organ Replacement Register. The register is the national database for organ donations.

As of June 30, 2000, there were 3,582 patients waiting for organ transplants, with the bulk of them 79 per cent waiting for kidneys.

• FROM April 22, 1999 : National organ donor registry needed: report

More than half of the people who received a living kidney transplant in 1999 got the donated organ from a parent or another relative.

Canada's live kidney donation rate is one of the highest reported internationally, according to statistics compiled by the National Transplant Organization in Spain.

Grieg says improvements in liver transplant techniques have led to an increase in the number of live liver transplants. He predicts many more patients will receive these transplants in the next few years.