A Simple Guide to Registering as an Organ Donor in Australia

A recent Twitter hashtag, which started as an anti-vax complaint about vaccine requirements for organ transplants, has highlighted that a lot of Australians aren’t aware of how easy it is to check and opt-in for organ donor status.

#NotAnOrganDonorAnymore gained a bunch of interest on Twitter this week with some unvaccinated Australians stating they were removing themselves as organ donors because, due to the weakened immune system of organ recipients, Queensland Health has stated folks need to receive two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine before undergoing an organ transplant.

The move prompted Aussies all over the country to check their own organ donor status, and many shared that they found they weren’t registered when they believed they had been.

Thanks to the #NotAnOrganDonorAnymore hashtag, I quickly discovered I wasn’t an organ donor to begin with.
It took 10 seconds to register.
Go to MyGov > Medicare > Organ Donation
And if you can, select all the boxes.#ProudOrganDonor#DontTakeYourOrgansWithYou pic.twitter.com/zLKOJGBpeW

— Sean M Elliott (@SeanMElliott) December 7, 2021

So, how do you check your status and (if necessary) register to be an organ donor?

Visit The Australian Organ Register landing page on Services Australia. Here you can check out who can register to be a donor, how to register and how to change your choices.

When it comes to registering as a donor, you can do so online through:

• your Medicare online account through myGov
• the Express Plus Medicare mobile app
• the online form on the DonateLife website

Once logged into the medicare website or app, select ‘view preferences’ under the Organ Donation title. Here, you’ll be shown your current status.

From here, you can also select ‘Change donation preferences’ or ‘Order a new organ donor card’.

For those who would prefer to complete the process of registering to be an organ donor with a printed form, you can do that too.

According to the government, you can:

• print the form
• get it from a service centre
• call the Australian Organ Donor Register and they’ll send it to you.

Fill in the Australian Organ Donor Register form, then submit it at a service centre, fax or post back for free.

According to Transplant Australia, there are as many as 1,700 people waiting for a transplant at any one time. Becoming an organ donor means you could save or improve the lives of as many as 10 people.