Families need to know organ donor's wishes

In New Zealand, people can donate their heart or heart valves, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, eyes and bone.

Donor co-ordinator Janice Langlands, of the National Transplant Donor Co-ordination Office, says the most important step for anyone deciding to give organs for transplantation when they die is ensuring family know their wishes.

The family will always be asked to agree to organs being retrieved from the person's body, she says.

Families can specify the organs and tissues for donation, but most agree to donate the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and pancreas.

Since 1993 the number of donors on death has been fairly static.

In 1993 there were 34 and last year, 37.

So far in New Zealand there have been:

* 138 heart transplants.

* 56 lung transplants.

* 118 liver transplants.

* 9 pancreas transplants.

About 280 people are waiting for kidney transplants and smaller numbers are waiting for heart, lung, liver or pancreas transplants.