Thirteen Years of the Thai Red Cross Organ Donation Centre

The Thai Red Cross Organ Donation Centre was founded more than 13 years ago. Its primary roles are to promote organ donation, recipient registration, organ allocation and coordination of procurement.MethodThis was a retrospective analysis of data from the Thai Red Cross Organ Donation Centre from February 1, 1994, to October 31, 2007.ResultsThere were 450,069 people registered as potential donors. Over the past 6 years, the average new registration was 35,000 people per year. There were 791 deceased organ donors, yielding 1786 organs and 1062 tissues for transplantation. They comprised 1414 kidneys, 242 livers, 125 thoracic organs, 4 liver-kidneys, 1 pancreas-kidneys, 652 corneas, 370 heart valves, 36 bones, 3 blood vessels, and 1 skin. In the early period, each donor provided about three organs/tissues for transplantation. Now, each organ donor can provide 3.6 organs/tissues for transplantation.DiscussionAt present, the Thai Red Cross Organ Donation Centre is also authorized by The Medical Council of Thailand to oversee transplant practices in the country. There is a tendency for an increase in organ and tissue donations, although the numbers of waiting list patients is out of proportion to those of actual donors.ConclusionOver the 13-year period of the Thai Red Cross Organ Donation Centre, there were 791 deceased organ donors who provided 2809 organ/tissues for transplantation.