Each year, many Canadians undergo life-saving organ transplants, while thousands still wait and hundreds die because there are not enough organs to meet demand. Inquiry.

Despite significant progress in organ donation rates, Canada is still unable to meet the needs of all patients waiting for an organ.

As of December 2022, there were 3,777 people waiting for a transplant in Canada and only a small number of Canadians were registered as organ donors. The need for donors is therefore urgent.

Notice

Mark Holland, Minister of Health, today announced key milestones for the Pan-Canadian Organ Donation Data and Performance Measurement System project to mark Living Donor Week. and transplants, which will help Canada become a global leader in organ donation and transplantation (ODT) services.

Many OGD providers in Canada use old technology in their operations: they still rely on paper documents and use fax and telephone to communicate with other providers and hospitals.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and Canada Health Infoway have jointly received $40.4 million in funding over five years to advance Canada’s OGD system through innovative technologies. modern data.

“Organ donation saves lives and it is important to increase the number of organ donors in Canada,” Health Minister Mark Holland said in a news release. Modernizing the pan-Canadian data and performance measurement system for organ donation and transplantation supports better decision-making and improves access, efficiency and outcomes for patients across the country. This progress shows we are moving in the right direction to increase the number and quality of successful transplants across the country.”

Progress

As of September, significant progress has been made through this initiative, including:

• The development and launch of a digital tool that connects organ donation organizations in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec to improve the exchange of deceased organs to help reduce the number of missed organ donation opportunities for people waiting for a transplant;
• Work with these provinces to begin integrating DGO systems (some of which serve all three territories) in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Island Edward, and Newfoundland and Labrador to serve all people in Canada , no matter where you live and have access to the same advanced care when it comes to organs from the deceased.
• The development of national data standards for deceased organ donation, transplantation and living organ donation, integrated with digital solutions to quickly collect high-quality, comparable data and enable a better understanding of health system performance.

This project will help reduce missed organ donation opportunities, thereby reducing the number of Canadians who die while waiting for an organ.

In addition, this project promotes technological improvements that will in turn enable better management of the organ supply system, facilitate the management of increased donor volumes and the allocation of organs, and also facilitate the exchange of organs between provinces and territories. (CP/IJL)