Development of a kidney transplantation program--inverted funnel approach

Abstract

Introduction: The history of organ shortage has been approached differently by different countries. This review tries to discuss the inverted funnel approach of Iran.

Methods: The whole history of transplants in the country can be divided in three phases of legally regulated living unrelated kidney donation, legislation of brain death donation and lastly how it has been implemented. In each phase, there have been attempts to clarify the role of each sector: the government, professionals, and the public.

Results: Based on more than 20 years of experience, it has been shown that kidney transplants from brain dead donors (BDDs) increased from 0.4 per million population (pmp) in 2000 to 2.9 pmp in 2005, 7.9 in 2010, and 15.1 pmp in 2013 and it could eventually change the rate from living source from 20.1 pmp, 24.5 pmp, 21.8 pmp, and 19.5 pmp in these years, respectively.

Discussion: It has been shown that the government began to take part when it was convinced that an organ procurement program from BDDs is not a luxury program but can lessen the economic burden on the health budget and be supported by legislations and budget allocation. Professionals took the responsibility not only to make decision makers and the public aware of the subject and adapt the national protocols to consider the general population concerns, but also to train as many medical teams as possible nationwide. Persistence and publishing the results can pave the way for the public to accept the program and take their own responsibilities to solve the problem of organ shortage by taking the opportunity to give life to others after the death of a loved one.