Australia’s organ waitlist grows while thousands more living on dialysis | Donate Life
The nation’s waitlist for an organ transplant has climbed back to its highest level in years, as thousands more patients living on dialysis hoping of a second lease on life.
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Australia’s waitlist for an organ transplant has climbed back to its highest level in years, as thousands more patients on dialysis wait for the hope of a second lease on life.
New data from DonateLife reveals 1895 people are on waiting lists for an organ as of June 1, an increase of almost 20 per cent since 2015, while more than 14,000 people are on dialysis.
Last year a total of 527 deceased organ donors were able to save or transform the lives of 1,328 people who received an organ transplant.
The most common organ that Aussies are waiting for is a kidney, which carries a three to four-year wait, but that number can vary greatly based on blood type and what part of the country they live in.
“What’s it like being a person on the waitlist? Bloody tough,” Professor Steve Chadban told News Corp Australia.
“You’ve got to make sure that you’re fit enough to get a call at any hour of the day or night and good to go and get a transplant. That’s a pretty big, scary proposition for anyone.
“Then once you’ve had major surgery, you get all these new medications. My patients leave (surgery) on an average of 26 pills a day.”
Chronic kidney disease is one of Australia’s biggest killers, accounting for 11 per cent of all deaths in 2022 (22,000) at a rate of 84 per 100,000 people.
OTA National Medical Director Helen Opdam, who is also a senior intensive care specialist at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital, has been involved in the nation’s donation program since the late 1990s, and highlighted while technology had come a long way, the real change comes from talking with your loved ones.
“It is a really important decision for many families to understand why their relative wants to become a donor and that they honour their wish,” Dr Opdam said.
“Knowing that a family member saved the lives of other people, that is a massive thing. It can give many families a lot of comfort.”
Dr Opdam highlighted the need for more adoption of a new transplantation technology known as machine perfusion – a technique that preserves the organ and can test the functionality – which can increase the time an organ can be out of the body before being retransplanted by hours.
“(Having more machines) would really help increase the number of organs for transplant and it would also help with some of those complex logistics,” Dr Opdam said.
“It can allow organ health to be longer, which improves the logistics of who you can get a kidney to, where you can move it around the country, the timing of the surgery ... it frees up the whole system, creating more choice and opportunity.”
However Associate Professor Opdam noted a lack of development of the national strategy for transplantation has hindered a chance for more donations, which has been in discussions by federal, state and territory governments since 2022.
“If we had the national strategy, we could better organise all of this and come up with a better plan for the funding and organisation of it,” Dr Opdam said.
Australia is one of the world leaders in successful transplant outcomes, with an 83 per cent survival rate of kidney transplant graft across a five-year period, meaning hesitant donors should feel confident that their organ is highly likely to help someone else.
The biggest underlying issue doctors and patients face is having more registered donors.
“The importance of registering is because if they’re ever in a situation where donation can be considered, and the family is approached, they’re more likely to say ‘yes’ because they know your wishes,” Organ and Tissue Authority chief executive Lucinda Barry said.
“Many people do think they’re too old or they’re not healthy enough to be considered to be a donor, but our message to them is everybody (aged) 16 and over can register.” There were 7.8 million registered donors at the end of 2024 – approximately 36 per cent of the eligible population.
The second highest in-demand organ, the liver, has an average transplant wait time of eight-to-12 months, but has been noted to vary from a few days to several years, according to Austin Health.
Liver transplants also have an 87 per cent five-year patient survival rate since 2010.
The findings come as DonateLife Week, which runs from July 27-August 3, encourages Australians aged 16-plus to register as organ and tissue donors, then inform their families they want to become donors. One donor can save up to seven lives.
Originally published as Australia’s organ waitlist grows while thousands more living on dialysis | Donate Life
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