The organization Transplant Québec is calling for a modernization of the legislation on organ donation, so the list of Quebecers waiting for a transplant jumped by more than 10% in 2021.
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As of December 31, 888 people were registered on the unique waiting list managed by Transplant Québec, an increase of 86 compared to the previous year.
“For some, it’s the only possible treatment in the short or medium term, so in that sense it’s worrying,” said Louis Beaulieu, CEO of Transplant Quebec.
According to the organization, this situation was mainly the result of the suspension for three months of kidney transplant programs at the start of the pandemic, causing a delay that was still being felt in 2021.
This decision was made at the time to protect immunosuppressed patients and because of resources being redirected to deal with COVID-19 in hospitals.
Overwork in intensive care units, especially in 2020, may also have resulted in some cases of deceased people, whose organs could have been removed, possibly being “escaped”.
Even though organ donation activity has picked up slightly over the past year, the increase in referrals for potential donors (8%) and the number of transplant recipients (5%) has not made it possible to return to the levels pre-pandemic.
A total of 409 people were able to be transplanted thanks to the generosity of 144 deceased donors, compared to 490 in 2019.
Legislation
Transplant Quebec took advantage of the unveiling of its balance sheet to argue that it is “essential” in its opinion “to focus now on modernizing the legislation” in Quebec.
Concretely, the organization is asking for a bill that would broaden the criteria that lead health specialists to send it the files of potential donors and that this practice become more systematic.
He also pleads for better training of professionals.
“What we see when we compare the way the section of the law is written in Quebec and in other Canadian provinces is that we put too many conditions here at the time and we have to broaden the reference basin. Currently, we have 724 references and we should have between 3,000 and 3,500 communications per year. Inside of that, we are convinced that there are donors who have escaped,” said Mr. Beaulieu.
Currently about 2% of deaths are reported to Transplant Quebec. This proportion could be increased to 10%. “We prefer to receive 10 calls and say ‘no, this person does not qualify for the donation’ than to miss one,” says the general manager.
Other trends
It should be noted that Quebec reached a record number of lung transplants (72) in 2021, confirming a trend that has been observed for several years due to the addition of medical resources and the development of new techniques.
Wait times for liver and lung transplant recipients decreased by 43% and 60%, respectively, but for heart transplant recipients increased by 45%.
The Montreal metropolitan area is the one with the most potential donors referred in proportion to its population, followed closely by Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Gaspésie-Îles-la-Madeleine.