Life-changing choice facing Qlders when they renew licence, rego

Queenslanders will notice a change to their licence and registration renewal that will force them to make a profound choice.

Hundreds of new organ donors have been added in Queensland just days after the launch of a nation-leading initiative.

For the first time, Queenslanders will be prompted to register as an organ donor when they renew their driver’s licence or vehicle registration, in a bid to increase the state’s share of donors. The prompt went live on July 22.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said 640 new donors had been added by Sunday.

Queensland, at 31 per cent, lags behind NSW (41 per cent), Tasmania (48 per cent) and South Australia (73 per cent) for the share of people on the donor list.

It comes amid a plea from Australia’s Organ and Tissue Authority for existing donors to recruit a “plus one” to the lifesaving cause, as part of DonateLife Week.

New figures show more than 50 Australians died while on the waiting list for an organ transplant last year.

OTA chief executive Lucinda Barry said: “If every person who is registered to be a donor encouraged one friend to register, (it) would mean about 240 more people would receive a lifesaving transplant each year.”

Registering takes only a minute via donatelife.gov.au or three taps in the Express Plus Medicare app.

Anyone aged 16 or over is encouraged to make the potentially lifesaving pledge, and then tell their ­family their wishes.

Drivers can opt to be an organ donor when renewing their licence or registration.

A shortage of donated organs meant 22 Australians died while on the waiting list for a liver transplant in 2023, alongside 12 who were awaiting a kidney, 12 needing a lung, four who were awaiting a heart and one needing a pancreas.

But these numbers could be much higher, as patients could be removed from the waiting list if they became too ill to receive a transplant.

Despite four in five Australians supporting donation, just over a third of the eligible population is registered.

Almost 1400 people nationwide received transplants in 2023, from 513 deceased donors.

But Ms Barry said at any one time, 1800 Australians were on the organ transplant waiting list, as well as 14,000 people on dialysis whose lives would be changed with a new kidney.

“Less than 2 per cent of ­people who die in hospital can be considered for organ donation,” Ms Barry said.

Their families then needed to consent to them becoming donors, she said.

“Our goal is to get as many people off the waitlist and receiving a transplant as we can, so that they can lead a full and healthy life.

“We call for people to register because more than eight in 10 families say ‘yes’ if their loved one is registered,” Ms Barry said.

One organ donor can save the lives up to seven people.

Queenslander Jaylyn Rongo, 21, received a donor heart in 2021 after being ­diagnosed with undetected cardiomyopathy.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the people who signed up to be an organ donor. I can’t say how grateful I am to my organ donor family,” Mr Rongo said.

Originally published as Life-changing choice facing Qlders when they renew licence, rego