STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:
Now, there's going to be an additional $14.9 million in funding for OrganMatch, which is a software system that helps match donors and recipients of organ transplants. It's run through the Red Cross Lifeblood. David Gillespie is the Minister for Regional Health -federally, the Member for Lyne, and he joins us on the line now. David, good morning.
MINISTER GILLESPIE:
Good morning, Steven. Great to be with you, and OrganMatch.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:
This is a- yeah, absolutely a great funding. It's- so how does this actually work? Because, I mean, it's the biggest dra- well, the biggest challenge when we're trying to match donors with donor organ- or, sorry, donor organs with recipients, is making sure those matches are correct. What does the software actually do?
MINISTER GILLESPIE:
Well, it does that exactly, instantaneously, once the information's put in, pretty much. As you know, organ transplantations transforms lives of people who've got failing organs. Whether it's failing kidneys and you're on dialysis, or, you know, a liver that's failing, particularly- [indistinct] disease as well as cardiomyopathy, cystic fibrosis, you know, sometimes you need new lungs. Now, this transplantation only can happen because of wonderful immunosuppressive drugs and amazing surgery, but you've got to have immune matching. And not only just your blood type, but also these other immune markers have to be recorded. We've got 1800 people at least waiting on the waiting list, and when a donor dies, if they've already given permission up front by registering with donatelife.gov.au, the system does the rest. There's a portal, it's secure- it's ultra-secure. The donor's details go in on the donation side, the recipients on another side, and it matches the right organs with the best possible recipients. And it's much better than the old manual system, I can tell you. It was done state-by-state in the old days manually, and a lot of potential matches slipped through the cracks.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:
I imagine this- and I'm led to believe this'll also alleviate some of that pressure and stress on donors' families. Because, I mean, the hardest part of this is for a family deciding that they're actually going to donate a loved one's organs, it- probably the most traumatic time of their lives, so this'll actually streamline that system too.
MINISTER GILLESPIE:
Well, once the decision's made, yes. But it's even better if you have this conversation well before you end up in an intensive care at the end of your life. And you can register- I registered. I went to donatelife.gov.au, it took me about two or three minutes max. But have the conversation with your family and make that decision up front, because you never know, there could be a disaster looming that you weren't planning on. And it's a lot easier to have had the discussion and made the decision in the cool light of day.
But once that situation arises, to be a donor, you actually have to be in hospital at the time you die. So it's- there's only a limited pool of donors. Now, this matching system that's been developed in Australia is world's best practice. We want it to grow and thrive and be supported over the next four years. There are people that work behind it, it's not just a software where you, you know, plug-and-play and leave it. It needs curating, it needs updating, it needs maintaining. You've got to deal with the national donor and surgery network. So there's a lot of work behind the scenes to make this amazing product work so well.
Just- for example, there was one lady who was waiting for a match for a kidney transplant for 17 years. Once this system got up and running, she was finally matched with someone. There's young people that- it's critical, difficult to match people - 31 of them have been matched quickly. It is so much better than the old system. That's why we have backed it to the hilt, given it four years of funding - $14.9 million from the Federal Coalition Government - and hopefully we will get more than the usual amount of transplantations happening, because a transplant can transform a person's life.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:
Absolutely. But as you say, we all need to do our part too and make sure that we are on that donor register. David, really good to talk to you this morning.
MINISTER GILLESPIE:
Great, Stephen. Anytime.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:
David Gillespie is the Minister for Regional Health. That- he's 100 per cent right, we all need to go on and nominate ourselves as organ donors. Donatelife.gov.au, it only takes you a couple of minutes so it's incumbent on all of us to do that.