/ Do you want to give away your organs when you die but don’t know how? The Alberta government is making it easier than ever with its new online donor registry officially launched on April 22.

The registry currently sits on the myhealth.alberta.ca website managed jointly by the government and Alberta Health Services. It includes information about the donation process and the difference between registering your intent to donate and giving legal consent. The registry does not include the option to be a living donor which is still handled by the Living Donor Program administered from Calgary and Edmonton.

Acting on declining organ donation rates the province passed the Human Tissue and Organ Donation Amendment Act in November 2013. Donations in Alberta have decreased 40 per cent over the past 10 years. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s most current data from 2012 there were 23 people in Alberta awaiting heart transplants 67 requiring at least one new lung 106 waiting for new livers and 309 awaiting kidney transplants.

During an April 22 press conference announcing the online registry Health Minister Fred Horne said there are now more than 500 Albertans awaiting organ transplants and “many more” waiting for tissues.

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