ABSTRACT
Historically, the first corneal graft which took place more than a century ago was probably the first example of an organ transplant and in the early years, a shortage of organs could not have been seen as a barrier to progress. In Britain, and, indeed in most of the developed world, there is a shortage of organs for transplantation and the situation appears to be worsening. According to a British Medical Journal article, something like 1,000 patients on waiting lists die each year. The figure worsens each year, but the number of organs available for transplant remains constant. At the end of March 2000, 5,354 people were on the active national transplant list in the UK, but it is widely acknowledged that waiting list numbers do not give an accurate reflection of the actual overall need.
