On Friday, the United States recorded its millionth organ transplant, a significant achievement for those who are still frantically awaiting that shot at survival.
It took decades from the first successful organ transplant, a kidney in 1954, to perform 1 million organ transplants, and officials are unable to say if the most recent organ was a kidney or some other organ. However, proponents launched a new initiative to encourage more individuals to sign up as organ donors in order to speed up the next million transplants.
However, the country’s transplant system is at a turning point. A record 41,356 patients received new organs last year alone, exceeding the previous high. The system is criticised for policies and overt errors that result in the loss of organs and the loss of life.
In a Senate committee meeting last month, lawmakers vented their frustration at the United Network for Organ Sharing, a charity with a federal contract to manage the transplant system, accusing it of inefficient organ tracking and lax monitoring.
‘This is sitting on your hands while people die’, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, told the organization’s chief executive as she and other senators suggested UNOS should be replaced.
CEO Brian Shepard said that UNOS continuously works to increase organ supply and equity and won’t be content until every patient in need of a transplant receives one.
‘Everybody would like the system to be better’, said Renee Landers, a Suffolk University health law expert who, as part of an independent scientific advisory panel to the government, co-authored a blueprint for change earlier this year. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s blueprint establish a five-year deadline for enhancing each component of the intricate transplant system, including the organisations responsible for gathering organs from deceased donors, transplant centres that select which ones to use, and the governmental organisations in charge of both their regulation.
‘Focusing on only one aspect is actually not going to achieve that goal. There are so many other pieces that have to fall into place’, Landers said. According to UNOS, more than 400,000 Americans are living with functional organ transplants. For every life that is saved each year, there are still over 105,000 people on the national waiting list for a new kidney, liver, heart, or other organs, and nearly 17 of them pass away each day.
Post Your Comments