MOH Continues to Dumb Down Organ Donation

MOH Continues to Dumb Down Organ Donation

The new National Organ Donation Service – Organ Donation NZ was launched last Friday, July 1 in a blaze of apathy from the Minister and Ministry of Health.

The service formerly known as the ‘National Transplant Donor Co-ordination Office’ has taken two years to reform after recommendations from the Health Select Committee after considering the National Organ Donor Shortage Petition of Aucklander, Andy Tookey.

“The Ministry of Health recently said in the media that they have no money available to do any public awareness on organ donation. Then they don’t even send out a single press release, let alone arrange media coverage of the new launch of this service which would not have cost them a cent, but would have raised the profile of organ donation considerably.” Said Tookey, now promoter of GiveLife NZ, an organ donor system reform campaigner.

“Being election year I would have thought that Annette King would have jumped at the chance to gain maximum publicity by formally opening the new lifesaving service, but obviously her bosses at the Ministry decided she didn’t need that exposure.

It was a one off perfect missed opportunity to promote the positive side of organ donation.

It is a shame that in recent days the only people that are promoting organ donation are the grieving parents of children who have died and have become donors saving many other lives.

The Minister should take some responsibility and not leave it to those in grief” He said.

Mr. Tookey is also concerned that Organ Donation NZ will continue to be absent from any NZ Telephone Directory, even though one of the core responsibilities of the service is to provide public education and answer individual queries on the subject.

“How are the NZ public expected to ask questions on the topic when there is no information anywhere and they are not even listed in any phonebook? Look on the internet and you’ll find the phone numbers for the FBI, CIA and British Secret Service, but search the NZ White or Yellow pages for any combination of words to do with organ donation and you will get no results.

They are more secret than the world’s most secret services.

The Minister needs to direct some of those four billion dollars she says she has given extra to health into at least a telephone book listing for the service...”

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