Decision on organ and tissue donation
Junk food advertising was not the only item on the agenda at the recent Australian Health Ministers’ Conference. The Ministers endorsed a national reform agenda on organ and tissue donation to help increase the rate of safe, effective and ethical organ and tissue donation for transplantation in Australia.
This is timely in view of the decline in organ donations by more than 20% this year, prompting calls for urgent changes to reverse what Transplant Australia describes as a “scandalous” trend. The latest statistics show there were only 84 donations in the first half of this year, down from 108 in the same period last year representing a 22% decline. More than 3500 people are on organ transplant waiting lists around the country.
Go to www.aushealthcare.com.au for the full Health Ministers’ communiqué.
