Share
July 15, 2020 8h52
Share
Significant drop in organ donations in Québec since the pandemic
Stéphanie Marin
The Canadian Press
MONTREAL – The donation of organs was disrupted in Quebec since the beginning of the pandemic: the agency Transplant Québec has noted in April, its lowest rate of referrals and donors of the past five years.
The COVID-19 seems to have hit there too.
There were 25 people referred by the hospitals during the month of April and, in the end, only two donors were selected, which allowed the transplant of organs to five people.
Transplant Québec has unveiled the data after you have assessed the impacts of the pandemic on its operations.
But as soon as the month of may, a resumption of activities has been observed, moving towards levels normally observed, supports the body mandated by the minister of Health and social Services to coordinate the process of organ donation.
The situation, however, is not fully returned to normal.
Comparing the period from 12 march to 30 June 2019 to 2020, the organization has seen a 50% decrease in the number of organ donors and 60 % of transplants.
Fortunately, the organization says it does not have noticed that the increase of deaths caused by the lack of references donor in those awaiting transplant.
During this period, from mid-march to the end of June 2019, 16 people waiting had died, compared to 15 this year.
“The slowdown that occurred in April last year is mainly explained by the exceptional circumstances in which we were immersed. The need to ensure the safety of patients to be transplanted as well as the massive reorganization in the hospitals in particular have been able to contribute to these results”, pointed out by press release the director general of Transplant Québec, Louis Beaulieu.
It was noted, however, that the number of donors is already down in the bar 10 for a given month over the past few years.
