Des Jones
Australia has one of the highest organ transplant success rates in the world however every day three Australians die needlessly waiting for an organ transplant. In 2012 three hundred and fifty-four people donated organs, helping to save the lives of one thousand and fifty two people. Donor statistics have not really changed in thirty years and around one thousand six hundred people are on waiting lists. Substantial government money has been spent however we still rank twenty-eight in the world
Des participated as a Director of Australian Rotary Health Research Fund with Marvin Weinman in an attempt to overcome the problems with associated Government policy failure. There were over seventy organisations involved in the transplant area, by any business model, complete madness. They looked at global best practice and discovered if this could be achieved in Australia, it would translate to one hundred transplants every month. The plan was to establish a national authority based on SHARELIFE recommendations to Monitor the processes of organ donation. Once setup, the Authority only implemented three of SHARELIFES fifty-one worlds best practice recommendations. In the end the States went off by themselves without direction.
Australia is currently at fourteen point nine donors per million, whilst Spain is at thirty-five per million. Life on a waiting list can last fifteen years. Some Kidney patients spend up to eight hours a day on dialysis. Please register your decision to donate your Organs on the Australian Organ Donor Register. Currently only fifty percent of families consent to donation, as they are unaware of their loved ones wishes. Please discuss it with your families!