Preferred access drives 16% increase in organ donor cards in Israel

An article at Haaretz.com quantifies the increase in signed organ donor cards in Israel in the first year following announcement of a new law giving holders of organ donor cards priority access to organs. The law goes into effect in April, 2012.

The number of cardholders has considerably increased recently following a publicity campaign touting the new law. Anyone signing the card before April will be immediately eligible for the benefit, while those signing after the law goes into effect will need to wait three years for eligibility after signing. 

The number of organ donor signatures rose 71,229 during the year to a total of 632,300 while another 20,000 requests for the cards are being processed by the National Transplant Center.

That amounts to an increase of over 16% in organ donor signatures.

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Preferred access causes organ donor surge in Israel

Organ donor registration is way up in Israel after organ donors were given priority access to donated organs.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Due to the population’s surge of interest in obtaining an organ donor card, the Adi-National Israel Transplant Center has extended through March 31 the deadline to register as a donor and receive special benefits. 

Anyone who registers as a potential organ donor will be eligible immediately for high priority for obtaining an organ for himself or a first-degree relative and does not have to wait for this privilege for three more years. 

The deadline was supposed to be December 31. 

During the past few weeks, Adi’s phone system has collapsed several times due to the high demand. 

Since Adi decided to give preferential treatment to those registering as a potential organ donor, tens of thousands of people have registered, raising the number of potential donors to over 600,000. Until last year, the rate of registration was among the lowest in the Western world.

The incentive to donate created by law in Israel is similar to the incentive created by LifeSharers in the United States and New Zealand.


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