ICBC launches organ donation program

VICTORIA, B.C. — In partnership with BC Transplant, ICBC is launching a new pilot program next week, to encourage more people to register their decision on organ donation.

Curiously, the announcement came on the same day this week that Health Minister Terry Lake confirmed the province has more than doubled its organ donor rate in the last six years. He credits the effort of staff in hospital ER’s and intensive care units, as well as increasing public awareness and support for organ donation.

There was a record number of 422 transplants from both living and deceased donors in 2015, and Ed Ferre with BC Transplant has the comparative numbers dating back to 2009.

Actually, it gives this jurisdiction the distinction of the highest rate in the country, and Mr. Ferre says it’s now being done through a couple of means.

The public auto insurer will launch the new pilot program from March to May in Kelowna and three greater Vancouver locations hoping to boost donations even further.

It says 50 per cent of British Columbians believe they’ve registered a decision on organ donation, but the number is actually only 20 per cent, because a decal on a driver’s license is no longer enough to ensure registration.

The first organ transplant in BC was in 1968 at Vancouver General and since then more than 6,800 have been performed.

Still, the need outweighs the number of donated organs available, and more than 500 BC residents are currently on the transplant wait list.