A recent survey conducted by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has revealed that a total of 509 organ transplants from brain-dead donors were unable to be performed in 2023 due to a lack of manpower and insufficient beds at medical facilities. This is the first survey of its kind, shedding light on the challenges faced by medical facilities in conducting these life-saving procedures.
The shortage of resources has led many medical facilities to decline organ donations from brain-dead donors. The Japan Organ Transplant Network (JOT) plays a crucial role in mediating between potential recipients and available organs. Factors such as waiting time and the severity of the recipient’s condition are taken into consideration when deciding who will receive the transplant. Once a suitable recipient is identified, registered medical facilities for organ transplants are contacted and asked to accept the donated organ.
However, if a medical facility declines an offered organ, they are required to provide an explanation to JOT regarding their decision. The survey focused on records of JOT-mediated donations in 2023, specifically for hearts, lungs, livers, pancreases, kidneys, and small intestines. Out of 831 donated organs from 131 brain-dead individuals during this period, 192 organs were not transplanted despite efforts by JOT.
The survey highlighted that multiple medical facilities may decline a single organ offer, resulting in missed opportunities for transplantation. Out of these declined organs, there were potentially 3,706 transplants that could have been performed but were not carried out due to various reasons.
Shortages in necessary manpower or beds at medical facilities accounted for 509 unperformed transplants. This meant that approximately 364 people missed out on lung transplants while others missed opportunities for pancreas (55), heart (53), small intestine (17), liver (15), or kidney (5) transplants.
Other reasons cited by medical facilities for declining organs included unsuitability of the organ for transplantation based on donor-related factors or mismatch between body size of potential recipients and available organs. Additionally some patients were undergoing treatment for other illnesses which made them ineligible at that time.
As per data provided by JOT as of August-end last year around16k people remained on waiting lists across Japan awaiting an organ transplant.
