DATE: March 20, 2023

Washington, DC (March 20, 2023) — Last week, the Kidney Transplant Collaborative (KTC) submitted a letter to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) regarding a recent proposal that could remove waitlist prioritization access for living donors.

When they donate, living donors are given priority access to transplants, should they need one in the future. The proposed policy change could take away that priority access. Not only would this change directly affect living donors, but it would also likely decrease the number of potential future living donors, creating an even larger gap in the availability of needed organs.

Lou Diamond, Chair of KTC, released a statement regarding the proposal.

“The Kidney Transplant Collaborative highly encourages OPTN and HRSA to maintain the current policy regarding living donors’ waitlist prioritization. Living donors have already made a great sacrifice by donating their organ(s), and they deserve to be thanked and appreciated for their selflessness. OPTN’s current policy ‘appropriately recognizes that living donors have already contributed into the system at great personal, health and often financial cost by undergoing the donation procedure and contributing their organ to another.’ We must honor their sacrifice and we must support living donors.”

You can find a copy of the letter HERE.

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The Kidney Transplant Collaborative (KTC) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing kidney transplants and decreasing financial obstacles and other problems kidney patients, donors, and their families experience with the kidney transplant process. For more details, visit the KTC website at www.kidneytransplantcollaborative.com