THE Colne Valley MP is backing a British Heart Foundation (BHF) call to increase the number of organ donors.
Jason McCartney, pictured, posed with a post-office style ticket showing where the latest UK organ transplant patient has joined the waiting list.
Mr McCartney was attending a meeting in Parliament, organised by the BHF to highlight the need for more organ donors.
A total of 581 people in Yorkshire and the Humber are currently waiting for an organ transplant and 41 have died while waiting in 2010/11.
Across the UK there are over 7,000 people on the waiting list due to the shortage of available organs. While 90% of the public support organ donation only 30% of people are registered donors.
Mr McCartney said: “There are thousands of people desperately waiting for an organ transplant. For them it is their only hope of getting better. And while most of us are in favour of organ donation too few of us get round to signing up to the register.
“I’d urge everyone to take the time to sign up the register. Becoming an organ donor is a completely selfless act which could save or transform the life of someone who is desperately ill.”
Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the BHF, said: “For many critically ill heart patients organ donations offer the best chance of long term survival. Tragically the number of available organs is outstripped by the number of people waiting for one to become available.
“Ultimately we’d like to see the introduction of a ‘soft opt out’ system in the UK where it’s assumed that someone is happy to donate unless they, or their family, say otherwise. But this will take time, and unfortunately that’s something many people on the transplant list don’t have, so we’d urge anybody interested to sign up to the organ donor register today.”
While the UK currently has an ‘opt in’ system, the Welsh Assembly Government has recently announced that it intends to introduce an ‘opt out’ system. The Welsh Assembly is shortly to publish a draft bill outlining proposals for how the system would work.
More information about organ donation or joining the register can be found at www.uktransplant.org.uk
