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Quebec’s organ donation service is taking over the role of transporting organs effective immediately, provincial health minister Sonia Bélanger announced Wednesday.
The move will see Transplant Québec take over management of organ transport from the Canadian Organ and Tissue Donors Association (CODA). Sûreté Québec volunteers will continue to transport organs and medical teams.
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“What’s concretely changing? Not much,” Transplant Québec General Manager Martine Bouchard said, emphasizing that her organization’s takeover from CODA will not disrupt organ transportation in the province.
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Despite its name, the Canadian Organ and Tissue Donors Association only managed organ transportation in Quebec. Transplant Québec is taking over operations in part because CODA president Richard Tremblay is retiring.
The move will also allow Quebec to preserve the unique system that sees police officers transport organs, Bouchard said. SQ police officers volunteer, unpaid, to transport organs and medical teams to patients in need. In all other provinces, organs are transported by ambulance.
The system benefits the province, Bouchard said, because it keeps costs low and ambulances available.
Almost 2,000 SQ officers volunteer to transport organs, Bélanger said, thanking them during Wednesday’s announcement. “You’re saving lives.”
Bélanger said she plans to table legislation formalizing rules around organ donation in Quebec. “We’re going to look at all the dimensions linked to (organ) transport,” she told reporters. The bill will define Transplant Québec’s role as well as that of health facilities, the minister said.
A parliamentary committee is set to publish recommendations for a new bill Oct. 22, she said, without providing a timeline for the legislation.
Bouchard said Transplant Québec has been asking for legislation formalizing its role for years. While it currently organizes organ donations with a level of independence from other government establishments, that has never been codified in legislation, she said.
“We want to conduct the orchestra.”
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