US announces plan to revamp nation's organ transplant system

The plan to revamp the nation's organ transplant system has been discussed by the federal government on Wednesday, which has been plagued by problems, including damaged or discarded organs and long wait times.

Around 104,000 people in the US are on the waiting list for organ transplant, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. There are seventeen people who die every day waiting for an organ transplant.

The current system is ineffective and helps affluent white people who have the means to travel where organs are available, according to experts.

There are multiple problems that need to be addressed, said Dr. Stuart Knechtle, a general surgeon at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina. It is clear that different groups of people by race and geographic location are served differently. In a release by HRSA, the plan would nearly double the amount of funding the government agency receives from the U.S. to $67 million in the fiscal year 2024 to modernize the nation's transplant system.

Knechtle said the current system is outdated and based on a model from the 1980s. He said that the system would give patients more timely information, empowering them to take more control over the transplant journey. It would also help address equity issues, where people who should be referred for a transplant are overlooked or given access to care too late.

The United States government would also siphon away some of the duties of the United Network for Organ Sharing, which is more commonly referred to as UNOS, to other outside organizations.

UNOS, a nonprofit organization based in Richmond, Virginia, has been the sole manager of the nation's organ transplant system since 1986 when the federal government gave the group a contract. The group has operated as a monopoly, overseeing the system that gets donated organs to seriously ill patients.

UNOS didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.

The government's plan would create an independent board of directors, as well as create an online dashboard that would give the public more information, including organ retrieval, waitlist outcomes and demographic data on recipients.

Carole Johnson, administrator for HRSA, said in a statement that the moves would create transparency and accountability in the system.

Every day, patients and families across the United States rely on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network to save the lives of their loved ones who have been affected by organ failure, Johnson said.

Knechtle said he was eager for changes to be made to the system.

There has been a lot of criticism of the system. He said that we agree with those criticisms.

In January, UNOS proposed a series of reforms for improving the organ transplant system, including creating new tools that would help patients navigate the donor and transplant process.