SA Government Must Take These Minimum Steps on Heart Transplantation

Provide relevant information to all communities in our country on heart disease and available treatments;
Promote an effective recording of deaths in order to get an accurate account of the causes of death and the burden of disease;
Lead a national discussion on solid organ donations to spread the message to potential donors, which currently is generally left to organisations like the Organ Donor Foundation;
Initiate a Green Paper on an “opt out” organ donor policy, offering opportunities to sound out local attitudes towards what many other countries regard as a very positive experience, but which may not be appropriate in South Africa;
Tap into private sector goodwill and resources to augment meagre public sector programmes, especially in respect of children with congenital heart conditions.