Organ donor scheme upgraded
25 February 2004 
By CUSHLA MANAGH

The father of a two-year-old waiting for a liver transplant wants to shout Health Minister Annette King a drink for agreeing to improve the organ donor programme.

Ms King said yesterday the Government would establish a national organ donation agency from July. It would be run by the Auckland District Health Board and would have $450,000 each year on top of funding already available for the donor programme.

The agency would educate health professionals about donations, develop guidelines for gaining consent, and campaign to increase public willingness to donate organs.

Ms King's announcement can be traced back to a long-running campaign by Aucklander Andy Tookey, who presented a 4000-signature petition to Parliament's health select committee last year calling for improvements to the organ donor scheme.

Mr Tookey's daughter Katie has a rare liver condition and requires a transplant within a few years. He discovered that New Zealanders were more reluctant than other nationalities to donate organs, and he urged the Government to act to change their minds.

Ms King has not adopted all of the select committee's recommendations - she has not accepted the idea of establishing a national organ donor registry to replace the present system based on driving licences. She said consent issues needed to be worked out first and she was confident the measures outlined would eventually lift the number of organs donated.

Mr Tookey was pleased with the decision, though he thought a campaign to raise awareness should begin immediately.

"But it's a good decision and if I was down in Wellington I would offer to take Annette King out for a beer," he said.

ACT justice spokesman Stephen Franks said people unwilling to donate their organs should go to the bottom of the list if they later required a transplant.