A record number of deceased organ donors provided British Columbians in desperate need of a new part with kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs and pancreases last year.
Of the 233 donors recorded in 2022, 159 of them were dead.
B.C. has seen a fairly steady increase in the number of deceased organ donors since 2015, when 95 people gave the gift of life after themselves passing.
The number of living donors, by contrast, has declined in the last three years as COVID-19 has impacted surgery dates and hospital capacity. In 2019, there were 120 living donors. That dropped to 81 in 2020, 75 in 2021 and 74 in 2022.
READ ALSO: ‘Removing the gift of life’: COVID-19 wave pushing back organ transplants
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The majority of donated organs last year were kidneys. Surgeons successfully transplanted 209 kidneys from deceased donors, 74 kidneys from living people and three from unspecified ones. Donors also gave 100 livers, 25 hearts, 54 lungs and two pancreases.
The total of 465 transplants is a somewhat significant drop from 529 in 2021, but on par with the eight-year average of 469.
B.C. has seen a reduced number of people waiting for transplants each year since at least 2015, but there were still 527 people who never received the organs they signed up for in 2022. Ten people died while waiting.
The Provincial Health Services Authority is encouraging people to consider signing up as end-of-life organ donors themselves. As of 2022, close to 1.6 million British Columbians have registered.
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Making pig livers humanlike in quest to ease organ shortage
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jane.skrypnek@blackpress.ca
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