One-third of organs donated in B.C. in 2018 came from people who died of a drug overdose (SPH)

July 22, 2019

There were 1,535 illicit-drug overdose deaths in B.C. in 2018, compared to an average of 204 deaths annually from 2001 to 2010. (Photo courtesy of Travis Lupik / The Georgia Straight)

This afternoon (July 19) B.C. health minister Adrian Dix convened a small celebration in a rooftop garden at St. Paul’s Hospital. The group gathered commemorate the province’s 5,000th person alive today who was saved by an organ transplant.

“The success of organ transplant is a transformative feat of expertise, coordination, and caring through the province,” he said.

The Provincial Health Services Authority’s Dr. Maureen O’Donnell joined Dix there and praised those who made it possible.

Read the full story on the Georgia Straight.