What are your donor wishes?
East Lothian residents are being encouraged to add their names to the NHS Organ Donor Register.
In Scotland, 41 per cent of people have joined the register to help those waiting for an organ donation.
This is the highest registration in the UK, the average being 31 per cent, but there is still a shortage of organs for transplant.
A new campaign has been launched to urge people to have a chat about organ donation with their loved ones.
It says the seven words “I’d like to be an organ donor” can save up to seven lives – and making the time to talk about organ donation can make all the difference.
Everyday in the UK, three people die waiting on a transplant.
More than 10,000 people in the UK are on the organ transplant waiting list, with 19 million people on the NHS Organ Donor Register.
The campaign’s message is that making your wishes known could give the gift of life to someone after your death.
There are currently more than two million Scots on the NHS Organ Donor Register.
In 2011/12, there were 346 transplants in Scotland, with the most common organ transplant being a kidney transplant.
The majority of people on the transplant list, 514, are waiting on a new kidney.
In 2011/12, NHS Blood and Transplant research found that 96 per cent of people would take an organ if they needed one.
Organs that can be transplanted are kidneys, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas and small bowel. Tissue can also be transplanted, including eyes, heart valves, bone, skin and connective tissue.
To find out more about organ donation and to join the NHS Organ Donor Register, visit www.organdonationscotland.org or text LIFE to 61611.
For information about Lothian case histories, go to http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/signuptosavealife/
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Thursday 20 June 2013
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