Canadians needing an organ donation will be able to quickly find donors from across the country after a long-sought integrated program is launched.

Canadian Blood Services announced Tuesday that provincial and territorial health ministers have expanded the agency's mandate from blood to organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Federal, provincial and territorial governments are contributing $35 million over the next five years to fund the program.

It's hoped that the new system will lead to fair allocation of organs to those who need them most and save lives, said Dr. Stephen Beed, medical adviser to the Nova Scotia Organ and Tissue Donation Program.

"It's a complex system that will take some time to change," Beed told CBC News on Wednesday. "But I'm very optimistic that in a three- to five-year timeline, things will absolutely be better."

The new system will raise standards and encourage more education among health-care providers and the public, he added.

Canada is unable to keep pace with the demand for organs. Unlike other developed countries, it has lacked a national transplant system, which resulted in wildly varying rates of organ donation between provinces.

On Dec. 31, 2007, 4,195 Canadians were on waiting lists for organ transplants. In the same year, 193 Canadians died waiting for an organ transplant, according to Ottawa-based Canadian Blood Services.

Under the new system, provincial transplant agencies will collaborate to match patients and donors across Canada more quickly.

The registries will include:

  • Patients urgently needing organs.
  • Those seeking kidneys or lungs from living donors.
  • People who wish to donate organs when they die.

CBS will build a computer system that will identify those at highest need, instead of relying on telephone calls and faxes as is done now, said Frank Markel, president and CEO of Trillium Gift of Life, which oversees organ and tissue donations in Ontario.

All provinces and territories have signed on to the new national system, with the exception of Quebec, which has its own provincial agency.

With files from the Canadian Press