Adverts target organ donor rise

The campaign aims to encourage more people to sign the register

A TV advertising and poster campaign aimed at encouraging more people to donate their organs is to be launched by the Scottish Government.

Fewer than one in three Scots is on the organ donor register, despite research indicating 93% of adults back donation.

More people are on the organ donor register in Scotland than in any other part of the UK, but rates remain among the lowest in Europe.

The campaign will see adverts on TV every day in March from Wednesday.

'Acute problem'

The campaign is aimed at raising the profile of organ donation and increasing the number of Scots signing the NHS organ donation register.

The recent report set out a target of increasing the number of donors by 50%.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "The shortage of donor organs for transplantation is an increasingly acute problem and we are determined to tackle this.

"One of the greatest successes of modern medicine is organ transplantation.

"We only need to look at the extraordinary recent achievement of the transplant unit at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in carrying out the first living donor liver transplant.

"But that is a reflection of the steps people are having to take to compensate for the lack of organs from deceased people."

Ms Sturgeon added that more needed to be done to increase the number of donors.

The launch of the campaign will coincide with a debate in parliament on the Organ Donation Taskforce Report.