February 24, 2015
Whanau need donation talk
The director of Organ Donation New Zealand wants every family given the opportunity to discuss whether the organs of their loved ones should be used to help others.
Dr Stephen Streat says last year 46 people donated their organs after death, compared with an average of 36 as year over the past decade.
That allowed 214 New Zealanders to receive an organ transplant, including 72 kidney donation from live donors.
Dr Streat says only about half a percent of deaths are in circumstances that make donation feasible, and it's important that people with the right knowledge and skills are able to discuss the option with whanau in those situations.
He's not accepting blanket arguments that it may be culturally inappropriate.
"I do not want people to withhold that opportunity from anyone, and Maori in particular, because of a prejudice that it's against somebody's culture or against somebody's religion. I think every single whanau needs to be given the opportunity to make up their own mind at the time," he says.
The government has set aside $1.8 million over three years to fund the Clinical Research and Effective Practice Foundation to help overcome barriers to live donor kidney transplantation in Pasifika and Maori patients.
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