Donor system to remain unchanged

[Guest guest]

This is what has happened so far after the uproar of the kidney donor programme aired throughout the world last week, in an effort to persuade more Dutch citizens to become organ donors. You will all probably know that there was a huge international media interest because it was stated that a terminally ill woman would "choose" a donor for a living donor kidney transplant. Networks from around the world camped out at the studio airing this programme. If any of them had done the appropriate research they would have easily discovered that such an action is not legally possible in the Netherlands!! I was surprised that such networks as the BBC or NBC etc etc had not done their research!

The programme was made to mark the 5th anniversary of the death of the founder of the network concerned, while waiting for a kidney transplant, and to draw attention to our donor "mentality". The Netherlands has one of the lowest organ donation rates in the developed world - alas.

If it comes to voting for a party that wants an "opt out" instead of an "opt in" system, I will definitely be voting for them!!

DutchPat

Donor system to remain unchanged

7 June 2007

THE HAGUE – The current organ donor registration system in which people must sign up to become a donor will remain intact for the time being.

Christian democrat CDA minister Ab Klink (Public Health) does however want to "seriously explore" whether other systems could produce more donors. One of the options he will be looking at is the Active Donor Registration (ADR) system, in which someone automatically becomes a donor if they fail to respond to a number of notifications.

Klink says he will come with a "master plan" for organ donation in the autumn.

Klink said on Wednesday during an emergency debate in Parliament that he would keep an open mind while looking into whether other registration systems could be more effective. "The individual's right to decide is extremely important, but I haven't come to a final verdict yet," the minister said.

In the short term only small steps, like advertising campaigns, will be undertaken to increase the number of donors.

Democrat D66, Socialist SP and green-left GroenLinks spoke out on Wednesday in support of the Active Donor Registration system. Coalition parties Christian democrat CDA and ChristenUnie want to first hear the minister's position.