Medical Advisor for Organ Donation with Canadian Blood Services Dr. Sam Shemie says organ donation after death, which provides the most organs for transplant is down around 21%, while living donation is down around 30%.
He says this has reduced the number of transplants being performed across the country.
There are many different reasons, including COVID-19, which has overwhelmed and strained healthcare, “The place that you are going to die from COVID-19, because it infects the lungs and causes your breathing to be affected and you need mechanical breathing support, those patients are being cared for in Intensive Care Units. Intensive care units are also happen to be the place where potential organ donors are cared for,” Dr. Shemie says.
He says numbers in all provinces are down, “In other counties and across the country by province, rates are down, although paradoxically, in Nova Scotia, rates I think have increased. That has a lot to do with all of the talk around opt out of presumed consent.”
On January 18th, Nova Scotia became the first province in the country to implement the the opt out organ and tissue donation consent law.
