TORONTO - Ontario is considering becoming the next province to pay people who donate a kidney or part of their liver, Health Minister George Smitherman said Tuesday.
With the majority of the 1,748 patients waiting for organs needing kidneys or livers, Smitherman said Ontario is looking to British Columbia for ideas after that province decided to reimburse patients who become live donors.
"It's the living donations that we have to focus on,'' he said. "We need to look hard at how we can support people to do that. British Columbia is a model. They've moved ahead and we need to take a good look at that.''
British Columbia brought in a pilot project last summer that reimburses live donors up to $5,500 for expenses like accommodation, travel, meals and lost income incurred during the donation process.
That project was examined by the citizen's panel on organ donation appointed by the Ontario Liberals late last year and is expected to be at the heart of the panel's report which Smitherman is currently mulling over.
"It's an expensive proposition but obviously it is the gift of life,'' he said. "We're going to take a good hard look at what a program would look like.''
Many advocates had hoped the organ donation report would prompt the province to bring in a system of presumed consent -- where everyone is automatically a donor unless they opt out.
But Smitherman said Ontario wants to focus on increasing the number of live donors rather than convincing people to donate their organs when they die.
Frank Markel, President and CEO of the Trillium Gift of Life Network, said the number of living donors is going up slowly but there were still fewer than 300 people who donated either part of a liver or a kidney last year.
Most of those people donated their organs to loved ones and Markel said it's harder to convince others to undergo surgery, especially if they are worried about their finances.
"It can be a barrier,'' he said. "Even for those people who are prepared to donate, it's a considerable inconvenience and it's a concern. When someone steps forward and is considerate enough to be a donor, you really don't want them worrying about financial issues at the same time.''
But Conservative Bob Runciman said he doesn't want to see Ontario follow the United States by paying for things like blood donations. It makes much more sense for Ontario to simply make it easier for people to bequeath their organs, he said.
If the Liberals were serious about increasing organ donation now, Runciman said they would pass a Conservative private members bill which would require people to fill out an organ donor card when they renew their drivers licences.
"That's one bill that's before the house now that could be dealt with before we break,'' he said. "That would get people a little more engaged. We have to do things like that.''
