Patients waiting for organ transplants will soon have the option to register at multiple hospitals, thanks to a proposed reform of Japan‘s transplant system. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has outlined plans to decentralize the process of matching organ donations with recipients, which is currently handled solely by the Japan Organ Transplant Network (JOT). This move comes in response to cases where facilities performing transplant operations had to reject organ donations due to a lack of hospital beds. The proposal will be presented at a committee meeting on Wednesday and discussions on its implementation will begin.
Under the current system, transplant candidates can only register at one hospital. However, hospitals often turn down organs donated by brain-dead patients due to staff or bed shortages. In these cases, the organs are then transplanted into patients with lower priority who are registered at another hospital. This issue has been seen as problematic within the field of transplantation.
The proposed reform aims to address this problem by allowing transplant candidates to register at multiple hospitals for surgery. This means that even if one hospital turns down an organ donation, they can still undergo the procedure elsewhere.
To ensure smooth coordination between registered hospitals, information such as patient condition will be shared among them. Additionally, data regarding waiting list numbers and post-surgery survival rates will be made public so that patients can make informed decisions when selecting a hospital.
Another aspect of the reform involves dividing responsibilities between different organizations involved in transplantation. Currently, the JOT handles tasks such as obtaining consent from families of brain-dead patients and finding suitable candidates for organs. However, with an increasing number of people becoming organ donors in Japan, this workload has become burdensome and caused delays.
To address this issue and mitigate potential risks associated with having one agency handle both tasks simultaneously (such as pressuring families for consent), a new organization focused on obtaining consent from families will be established while JOT continues its role in selecting recipients.
The establishment of multiple agencies regionally is expected not only reduce burden but also facilitate better coordination among stakeholders involved in transplantation processes. Ultimately, it is hoped that these reforms will lead to fewer instances where organ donations are turned away due to logistical challenges or other reasons.
