Hamilton hospital appeals for living donors as more than 100 people await life-saving kidney transplants

It's been 51 years since St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton carried out its first living donor kidney transplant. 

Since then, the hospital's living kidney donor program has grown into one that's "large and flourishing," according to the program's medical lead.

But Dr. Seychelle Yohanna said while the program remains "very dedicated to helping patients get living donor kidney transplants," increasing the number of living donors to keep up with demand has been a struggle.

Yohanna said the hospital carries out between 120 to 160 transplants each year, but only about 30 per cent of the kidneys are from living donors. 

"So, clearly there are not enough organs to meet the demand, not enough supply for demand," Yohanna told CBC Hamilton. 

"As the program and as the province we're working tirelessly to increase access to kidney transplant." 

A living donor kidney transplant "is the best treatment for patients with kidney failure," Yohanna said, adding that those patients can gain several additional life years.

"The kidneys themselves also tend to last longer. If you're able to find a living kidney donor, then you can avoid the number of years on dialysis while waiting for a deceased donor transplant," she said.

Yohanna said a living donor transplant works approximately 20 years on average, whereas the deceased donor transplant works anywhere from 10 to 15 years.

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the number of people in Canada with end-stage kidney disease continues to rise.

There are about 120 people on St. Joseph's kidney donor program's waitlist, Yohanna said, but nationally in Canada, there are approximately 3,000 people who are waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant. 

In 2022, 117 people in Canada died while waiting for a kidney transplant, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. 

Yohanna said in Canada and across the globe, there's been "moderate success" in efforts to increase the number of living donors.

"Ontario is actually one of the top provinces in Canada in terms of deceased donations and we've done so well at increasing our deceased donor numbers, even though there is still room to improve," she said.