Although the COVID-19 pandemic has affected organ donations, Canada is still one of the worst developed countries in organ donations. Though Sunday marked the beginning of National Organ and Tissue Donation Week, donations weren’t good in 2020, a trend is ongoing.
The David Foster Foundation revealed that organ donations dropped by 39 percent in 2020. Despite the drop due to the pandemic, Michael Ravenhill, the Foundation CEO revealed that about 1600 people are added to the list of those waiting for a transplant. At the moment, about 800 people are waiting for a donation.
Data also showed that one in five Canadian families refused to donate an organ to a loved one in 2020 despite written consent. Ravenhill says that if the percentage of the current donations could be upped, more lives could be saved.
“When we look at Canada, our average organ donor percentage is just over 20 percent if we could raise that bar just that much more, how many lives we could save?”
Each province in Canada manages its own donation and transplant lists. However, Paul Brunet, the patients’ rights advocate, believes that a lot could happen if that can be changed.
“How about we coordinate and have the best number possible of donors and recipients? This is called coordination, this is called collaborative federalism.”
