On the occasion of National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week, which will take place from April 21 to 27, we would like to encourage our public decision-makers to continue the work that was started this winter with the aim of improve the provisions governing organ donation in Quebec. After the consultation process undertaken by the Health and Social Services Committee of the National Assembly at the beginning of the year, during which numerous experts made observations and suggestions, the time has come to act . We must get Quebec out of the pan-Canadian back of the pack when it comes to organ donation.
Improving organ donation is a priority for Quebecers. This is particularly the case for the hundreds of people who are waiting for a transplant in the province, for those seeking to donate an organ, for families considering the wish of their deceased loved one to donate an organ, and for healthcare professionals who want to improve the efficiency of donation and transplantation.
The Kidney Foundation – Quebec Division is particularly concerned about optimizing organ donation. Indeed, let us point out that 72% of Quebecers on the organ waiting list, according to 2023 data, need a kidney (610 people out of 853).
Today, it is estimated that one in 14 Quebecers (643,000 Quebecers) risks developing kidney failure during their lifetime. However, kidney failure is gaining ground due to the aging of the population as well as the increase in the number of cases of diabetes and hypertension. A person with kidney disease can spend nearly 1,000 hours per year on dialysis, for the rest of their life, unless they have a successful kidney transplant.
There’s still much to do
To improve organ donation, much remains to be done, even if it is true that Quebec has made some progress over the last ten years. For example, the waiting time for a lung transplant has decreased by 87%. However, for the kidney, this reduction was more like 60% over the same period. In 2023, only 321 people received a kidney donation, while 651 people were waiting as of December 31, 2022. That year, the average wait time for kidney transplant recipients was 485 days.
In its brief submitted to the National Assembly, the Kidney Foundation – Quebec Division made several observations and made recommendations for improving the organ donation ecosystem, including the kidney.
It is important that Quebec optimizes the identification and evaluation of potential donors as well as organ harvesting throughout the province. Quebec must do better in terms of SEO. To do this, it could be wise to invest in a provincial public awareness and education campaign. We also need to train health professionals more.
For people who suffer from kidney failure, a transplant from a living donor is generally the best treatment. The survival rate after five years is close to 90%, and the graft remains functional, on average, for 15 to 20 years. However, living donors are not adequately supervised in their donation process and are not sufficiently supported. Please note that there are only two organs that can be donated by a living person: the kidney and part of the liver.
It is important that the option of living donation becomes more common in our health system and that we equip ourselves with the necessary resources to offer and carry out this type of transplantation. This of course implies increasing the human and financial resources that enable the support of potential living donors.
It is in order to discuss these important questions that it is necessary to continue the conversation that our elected officials began with the consultation held this winter. We urge our elected officials to consider our suggestions and move on to the next step: consider tabling an update to the legislative provisions governing organ donation in Quebec. The Kidney Foundation – Quebec Division as well as the entire organ donation ecosystem are available to work on this important issue in Quebec.