United States.

Legislation to limit US organ donations to Americans only is currently before the US Congress, medical and Government officials confirmed yesterday. Urgent talks were underway to thwart it, they said.

If passed, Bermudians would no longer be able to receive transplants of kidneys, livers, hearts or other vital organs coming from Americans.

And their chances of an organ match would be severely limited given Bermuda's small population.

The irony is Bermuda donates more organs to America than it receives, a fact which Government and the hospital are hoping will help their argument to continue decades-long ties with the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which oversees donations and transplants in America, and the New England Organ Bank (NEOB) with which Bermuda primarily deals.

The NEOB said the legislation was in response to a "severe shortage of organs'' in America and belief that wealthy foreigners were unfairly gaining access to them.

The Bermuda Hospitals Board and Government have had urgent talks with Congressmen involved, including Senate Labour and Human Resources Committee head Sen. Edward Kennedy, Information Officer Mr. Gavin Shorto said.

The Cabinet Office has also asked lobbyists in Washington to put its point across.

And the NEOB has vouched for Bermuda, saying that given the Island's population it has shown "excellent'' donor recovery results. Since 1982, the hospital has received an average of one to four donors (most yielding several organs each) a year.

Some 26 Bermudians have received 28 organ transplants in Boston, with two currently on the waiting list.

"This legislation concerns Government a great deal,'' Mr. Shorto said. King Edward VII Memorial Hospital executive director Mr. Hume Martin said although the hospital could retrieve organs, it did not have the facilities and capabilities to transplant them.

There would be "a big problem'' getting organ matches, but the legislation would also limit Bermudians' access to the NEOB, he said.

"We would indeed be at a loss,'' Bermuda Medical Society head Dr. John Stubbs said. "Bermuda was such a rich source of donors that we were treated rather specially by the New England Organ Bank.'' He added: "Bermuda has a remarkably good record of organ harvesting so it would be terribly counterproductive for the US to pass the legislation. We give substantially more organs for transplant than we receive.'' Bermudians who have taken advantage of the hospital's relationship with the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), have included plumber Mr. Wayne Hollis, Bermuda's first heart transplant recipient, and National Alcohol and Drug Agency head Mr. Cal Ming, who also received a new heart.

Both received the transplants this year and their cases were widely reported on in the media.

Mr. Ming, who was on a waiting list for months, got his new heart from a young American athlete who died in a swimming accident. Doctors were "amazed'' at his recovery.

In a letter to Mr. Martin, the head of the NEOB explained attempts were being made to amend the Transplant Act because of a "severe shortage of organs, lengthening waiting times, and concerns wealthy foreigners might be unfairly gaining access to the US system.'' "Patients and donated organs from Bermuda have been an integral part of the OPTN,'' Mr. Richard Luskin said in the letter.

The Transplant Act which created the OPTN was originally authorised by Congress in 1986.

The Act has been amended several times and the latest proposed change has already been passed preliminarily by a committee in the House of Representatives.

"The bill contains a provision requiring that a separate transplant waiting list for non-resident aliens be maintained by the OPTN,'' Mr. Luskin said.

"It further requires that all waiting US citizens and resident aliens are to be offered an available organ before it may be offered to a non-resident alien ...'' Unlike the House version, the above Senate version did not contain the provision limiting access outright to non-resident aliens.

"When I learned of the provision in the House version, I contacted the staff members responsible for drafting the legislation in both the House of Representatives and the Senate,'' said Mr. Luskin. "Neither was aware of the unique participation of Bermuda in the OPTN. Both have agreed that the inclusion of Bermudian citizens in such a provision would be unfair.''