National fund proposed

Press, 29 June 1987, Page 5

National fund proposed

A centralised national fund to assist those in need of heart transplants overseas may be set up using excess funds from individual appeals, said Mr Lawson Little, publicity officer for the Adrienne Mackwell Trust. Mr Little told “The Press” last evening that a proposal to create a central fund, to be called the Belinda Trainor Memorial Trust, was being discussed.

The Belinda Trainor Trust had given $BOOO to the Adrienne Mackwell Trust.

The Adrienne Mackwell Trust was launched in May this year to allow Mrs Mackwell, of Diamond Harbour, to travel to Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital for a heart transplant. The Mackwell Trust’s target was $120,000, said Mr Little. It had already reached $130,000 and money was still being forwarded.

“If Adrienne’s transplant is completed under budget the funds would be

available for others in Christchurch who need transplants,” he said. “If it is over budget, the Belinda Trainor Trust has promised another $12,000 to cover the shortfall. “It would be beneficial to have a centralised fund that could be used to help all those in need of the operation,” he said. The need, he said, was there because the facility for heart transplants at Green Lane Hospital, in Auckland, would not be ready to accept all those in need of such surgery until the middle of 1989.

“The Health Department has said Green Lane would come on stream at the end of this year but it might be a while before it could cope with all those in need of the operation,” Mr Little said. “About 14 to 16 New Zealanders each year need a heart transplant.”

The Trainor trust could be used as a central funding body for such surgery if individual trusts pooled their excesses. However, not all trusts

had an excess, Mr Little said.

“It is a very expensive operation. Two New Zealand men have been waiting in Sydney for 12 weeks each and that is costing a lot.”

The cost of Mrs Mackwell’s surgery rose from $60,000 to $74,000. There is also the cost of accommodation and transport.

Also, if the heart donor is a large distance from the Sydney hospital, the cost of transporting the heart is added.

At present the Government assists in the cost of overseas heart transplants by funding up to $40,000 a patient. It will continue to fund transplants until Green Lane Hospital is able to cope with all transplants.