Government to fund living donor kidney programme

Renal services: The Government is to provide funding next year to support the development of the country's first living-related kidney donor programme.

Minister for Health Mary Harney told the Dáil that funding to support the development of the programme was contained in an additional allocation of €8 million made available to the HSE for renal services in the financial Estimates for next year.

A HSE spokesman said the possibility of a living donor organ scheme was under consideration by a dedicated group which was examining this and other related renal issues.

The Irish Times revealed last year that doctors at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin had proposed the establishment of the programme which would see kidneys transplanted to patients from living donors. It is understood the set-up costs for such a programme have been estimated at around €3 million.

Pressure from patient groups and medical professionals for a live donor transplant programme has been mounting due to the growing demands on dialysis services and increasing numbers waiting for transplants because of the rising number of people diagnosed with renal failure.

There have been an average of 150 kidney transplants carried out in Ireland each year over the past decade. However, this rate is no longer sufficient to keep pace with the number of people on the transplant waiting list, which earlier this year stood at 380.

Dr David Hickey, consultant urologist and transplant surgeon at Beaumont Hospital, said that although Irish hospitals were doing well in terms of securing cadaveric donations, there was still a need for a higher number of transplants to be carried out.

"Up to five years ago, we were essentially meeting our needs. We had 150 people waiting for transplants and we were transplanting around 150 people a year.Today we have 380 people waiting and we're still doing 150 a year. And as more nephrologists are employed around the country, the number being diagnosed is going to increase exponentially and the waiting list is going to increase," he said in an interview.

The Irish Kidney Association said there was a 16 per cent rise in the number of people requiring dialysis last year and services were not keeping pace with rising demand.

There are nearly 1,000 people on hospital dialysis programmes and a further 300 on home-based dialysis.

Ms Harney told the Dáil that a national review of renal services was due to be completed next year. "The purpose of the review is to make recommendations for a high-quality and patient-centred renal service to meet current and projected demand, having regard to current best practice and the need to obtain the best use of and maximum benefit from the resources available," she said.