Increase in organ donors in 2022, to highest number ever

ANP

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 03:16

The number of people who donated organs after death rose to 285 last year. According to the Dutch Transplantation Foundation (NTS), this is the highest number in a year ever. The figures are therefore back at the level before the corona crisis. Innovations also ensured that more organs per donor could be made suitable for transplantation.

At the start of the pandemic in 2020, there was still a significant decrease in the number of organ donations and transplants.

In total, 1402 organ transplants were performed last year, from both living and deceased donors. That is 162 more than in the previous year. As a result, waiting lists have also fallen in many categories. The waiting list for a kidney transplant has increased, according to the NTS due to the high influx of new patients. There are 1247 people waiting for a new organ in the Netherlands, fifty fewer than last year.

New donor law

Director Bernadette Haase of the transplant foundation is happy with the new figures. “We greatly appreciate the choice of donors and next of kin to donate. As a result, so many life-saving transplants can be done. It is great to see that through innovations we are increasingly able to improve the quality of organs to be transplanted.”

According to the foundation, it is not yet possible to say with certainty whether the increase in the number of donations is the result of the new donor law. That law has been changed since July 1, 2020, so that everyone from the age of 18 automatically becomes a donor, unless an explicit choice is made not to be a donor.

The law will be evaluated by the Ministry of Health at the end of this year.

Source