Greens support register for organ donors

The Green Party is calling for the establishment of a national register of organ donors, administered by a dedicated national agency, following a unanimous recommendation from Parliament's Health Select Committee.

"It is a tragedy that New Zealanders are dying because of a lack of organ donors when I am certain many people would be willing to donate if they were aware of the problem," said Green Health spokesperson, Sue Kedgley.

Ms Kedgley said that New Zealand has one of the lowest number of organ donations in the world, with only 37 donors last year and a waiting list for donations of more than 350. She said the present system of indicating interest in organ donation through a driving license system is completely ineffective and should be scrapped.

"The Government should provide leadership on this issue," said Ms Kedgley. "We have to develop a system that makes it simple and easy for donors. And we need a wide-ranging public information campaign to encourage more New Zealanders to sign up as donors, after proper discussion with their families.

"I strongly support our committee's recommendation for government funding of such a long overdue campaign and I congratulate Andy Tookey for raising this issue."