Slightly more organ donations in Netherlands; Waiting times decreasing

Last year, people who needed a new organ often had to wait a little less long than their fellows in earlier years, the Dutch Transplant Foundation (NTS) reported in its figures for 2023. For example, the waiting time for kidney patients went from 29 months in 2022 to 27 months in 2023. The waiting time for other organs also decreased during this period. There were more donations. A total of 1,417 patients received an organ transplant, compared to 1,404 a year earlier.

Last year, 292 people donated one or more organs after their death, 2.5 percent more than a year earlier. That resulted in 883 transplants, a comparable percentage extra compared to 2022. In 24 cases, organ donation took place after euthanasia. In 2022, there were 13 such donations after a self-chosen death.

The number of brain-dead donors has decreased in recent years, partly due to better treatments for brain injuries. But a new technique that allows a heart to beat again after cardiac and circulatory arrest, making it suitable for transplant, turned out to be an important innovation. In 2023, there were 44 heart transplants using this new method. Otherwise, these hearts would have been lost.

Last year, 533 living people also gave an organ or part of an organ to someone else: 504 kidney donations and 29 times part of their liver. In 2022, 543 living people donated part of their bodies. The NTS sees this slight decrease as “normal fluctuation” with several causes.

Others also helped with skin, bone, and cornea donations. “The waiting lists for tissue are stable. Supply and demand are in balance,” the NTS said. In 2023, 2,543 people donated one or more tissues, and corneal transplants took place 1,947 times. Heart valve transplants were performed 128 times.

This year, the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare, and Sports will evaluate the new Donor Act, which registers you as having no objection to organ donations if you do not actively register that you don’t want to be a donor.

The Kidney Foundation already believes “that the success of the new Donor Act is clearly visible.” According to the foundation, being a donor is “increasingly becoming a social standard.” On January 1, 8.1 million Dutch people were registered as donors (“yes” or “no objection”).

But things should be even better, the foundation said. “We still see that people die while waiting for a kidney or that they are no longer transplantable due to the deterioration in their condition.”