On average one Australian dies each week while waiting for a transplant.

Kidney Health Australia today welcomed the appointment of one of Australia's leading Kidney specialists, Dr Paolo Ferrari as National Program Director of the National Paired Kidney Exchange program as a major win for kidney health in Australia and patients on the transplant waiting list.  

Kidney Paired Donation is a program which assists donor / recipient pairs who are incompatible or poorly matched with each other to find another donor / recipient pair(s) with whom they can exchange kidneys to enable a more favorable compatibility and allow a transplant to take place.

Anne Wilson CEO of Kidney Health Australia said paired kidney exchange would help address the shortage of donor kidneys in Australia and the domino transplant strategy is a trend we believe is vital to assisting people on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.

"The average waiting time for a kidney transplant is about 4 years but waits of up to 7 years are not uncommon.

"On average one Australian dies each week while waiting for a kidney transplant.

"Live kidney donations represented 44% of all kidney transplants in 2007, compared to 43% in 2006 and 39% in 2005. This proportion continues to increase over time."

Ms. Wilson said "Dr Ferrari is Director of Nephrology and Divisional Director at FremantleHospital and has made a considerable contribution through his lead role by creating the pilot Paired Kidney Exchange program in Western Australia.
 
"He is member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee of Kidney Health Australia and of the Scientific Program and Education Committee of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology."
 
Kidney Health Australia also welcomes the support for this program by all levels of government through the Australian Organ and Tissue, Donation and Transplantation Authority.

As at 31 December 2007, 13% (1,264) of the 9,642 people receiving dialysis were on the transplant waiting list.

Of all transplant recipients, about two-thirds receive kidneys.

Media Enquiries:
Anne Wilson Chief Executive Kidney Health Australia Mobile: 0400 165 391
Dr Tim Mathew, Medical Director, Kidney Health Australia Mobile: 0416 149 863  
Ron Smith, National Communications Manager, Kidney Health Australia 
Mobile: 0417 329 201