Foreigners 'waste' our organ ops

ONE in three patients who come from abroad for NHS transplant ops DIE within a year- raising fears that organs are being wasted.

Poor follow-up care when they go home is blamed for the low survival rates-93 per cent of Brits survive at least a year compared to 70 per cent of overseas patients.

In the last 10 years 795 organs have been given to non-UK residents, even though thousands of Brits are living on a knife-edge as they wait for organ transplants. And 7,590 are currently on the waiting list.

Shadow Health Minister Stephen O'Brien said: "This is an issue of growing concern. With thousands on the waiting list, the least they can ask is that transplanted organs are used effectively, that they bring life.

"Yet these figures show the poor survival rates in the people who come from abroad and receive UK transplants. The question is whether these organs could have been better used in other patients."Foreigners pay around £75,000 for an organ transplant in the UK, which is done privately in NHS hospitals.

NHS hospitals must give EU patients equal access to organ transplants. People from outside the EU should only be offered one if it is unsuitable for a UK patient but it is feared foreigners can "buy" organs, prompting the Department of Health to order a review.

Professor Peter Friend, president of the British Transplantation Society, said: "While there is a surfeit of UK residents awaiting transplants they should have priority."

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