ORGAN DONATION, Scotland
Lining up with the most precious gift

Published: 27/12/2010

PRESENTS have been exchanged in households the length and breadth of the country, but perhaps the most precious gift of all is the gift of life.

There are 600 people in Scotland on the waiting list for a donor organ so that they can undergo a transplant operation.

Their Christmas was full of uncertainty about the future, but the good news for them is that the number of people willing to donate organs has risen significantly.

There have been numerous campaigns in recent years to raise awareness of the need for transplant organs and to persuade more people to join the donor register.

Public appeals now appear to be bearing fruit, at long last, with the donor register standing at 1.8million people – more than a third of the population in Scotland.

It is vital that this remarkable effort is maintained. It can easily slip backwards, as with blood donation, especially at a time when the figures look so good. This is the most dangerous time because the fear is that potential donors stop coming forward, as they might think, mistakenly, that they are not needed or that somebody else will do it.