This means that only 190 patients received the gift of life in 2020, even though transplants rose again last year to 206.
Intensive care specialist Dr Catherine Motherway, HSE clinical lead for transplantation, said there was initially a lack of knowledge about COVID-19 as a viral disease.
But, she says, “we now have tests to make sure we don't have the virus.”
Dr Motherway was speaking at the launch of Organ Donor Awareness Week as up to 600 people are currently waiting for a new kidney, heart, liver, lung or pancreas transplant.
This year's message is 'Share Your Wishes', encouraging people to get a donor card or to let their nearest loved ones know of their desire to donate their organs in the event of a sudden tragedy.
She said it is important that those closest to you know your wishes so that doctors can respect them in difficult circumstances.
In a presentation at the European Conference on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Lisbon, Professor Paolo Grossi from the University of Insubria in Italy said organ donation from people who have died after testing positive for the coronavirus is safe. He said there is growing evidence that organ donation is safe. Receiver.
Among those who expressed their gratitude for the donor's generosity yesterday was Westmeath-born grandmother Mary McGarry, who lives in Palmerstown, Co. Dublin, who received a single lung transplant in 2018.
Accompanied by her daughter Carla and six-month-old grandson Earlais at Mansion House yesterday, Ms McGarry told how her hopes had been raised and dashed many times before the surgery. “It was the seventh time she was called to Mater Hospital for a transplant,” she said.
Dr. Christopher Neilson, South African and founder of the Irish Torture Survivors Rehabilitation Center, also spoke about the success of his liver transplant.
While in South Africa, he worked as a trauma surgeon during political turmoil.
Dr Neilson underwent the transplant at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin in 2020, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
But Matthew McNeave, 23, from Knock, Co. Mayo, echoed the wishes of hundreds of others on the waiting list.
He received a kidney transplant in 2011, but now his kidney is failing and he needs another one.
