Concerns among Irish Donation Network as organ donation rates fall

The Irish Donor Network (IDN) has called on the Government to undertake a range of measures to raise Ireland into the top 10 in Europe for organ transplants.

Ireland is currently in 18th place since 2020, with IDN also calling for the government to enact the Human Tissue Bill which will provide more regulation and general conditions during transplant removal and disposal.

Concerns were expressed by patients groups following the decline in the rates of organ donation and transplantation last year.

According to the report, heart transplants were down 42%, liver transplants down 45% and lung transplants were 58% in 2020 compared with 2019.

The IDN says pancreas transplants in Ireland topped the overall trend and actually increased from 2019 to 2020, though the actual numbers of transplants involved are smaller (2 transplants in 2019 compared with 5 in 2020).

The Council of Europe Newsletter Transplant 2020 said that transplantation programmes across the world have suffered during the pandemic.