Héma-Québec's role : from referral to transplant

Héma-Québec is responsible for supplying human tissues to the hospitals in Québec’s health care system. This means that the team ensures the smooth operation of the donor qualification activities and the human tissue collecting, processing, and distributing activities, all in keeping with the strictest quality standards in order to provide safe grafts and reduce the risk associated with communicable diseases.

Human tissue donation can change the lives of people who need a transplant due to illness or accident.

Here are some of the human tissues collected by Héma-Québec:

1. Referral

As part of its activities involving human tissues, Héma-Québec must raise health care workers’ awareness of the importance of identifying and referring potential donors. These recommendations are essential to ensure a sufficient supply to meet the population's transplant needs.

Section 204.1 of the LSSSS, facilitating organ and tissue donations, provides that the director of professional services of an institution operating a general and specialized hospital, when informed of the recent death of a potential organ or tissue donor, must diligently identify him/her, refer him/her, and send any necessary medical information about that person to Héma-Québec.

Learn more about the legal framework 

Therefore, the role of the health care staff at every institution is to be sure to identify potential tissue donors and refer them to Héma-Québec. Your contribution is vital as 45% to 50% of people who die in hospital can become human tissue donors.

To assist you in this process, Héma-Québec has provided you with tools to help you become self-sufficient in the identification and recommendation process.

Consult the identification and recommandation tools 

2. Consent

Once you have referred a potential donor to Héma-Québec, they do the usual checks in the consent registries of the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) and the Chambre des notaires du Québec (CNQ).

After both registries have been checked, the hospital staff will be informed by phone of the presence or absence of consent or refusal. During the phone call with Héma-Québec, the coordinator will tell the health care staff how to proceed. It is therefore important that the potential donor be referred to Héma-Québec before the option of donation is suggested to the family and loved ones.

Learn more about consent

3. Qualification

Héma-Québec always adheres to the highest standards to provide safe grafts and reduce the risks associated with communicable diseases. As part of the qualification process for potential human tissue donors, an evaluation of medical records is required.

The donor qualification process includes:

• a medical/social questionnaire to be completed with the loved ones;
• a review of medical records;
• the calculation of hemodilution;
• a physical examination;
• screening tests for communicable diseases;
• a complete technical review by medical director and quality assurance staff.

The Héma-Québec coordinator will assist you in obtaining the information or documents necessary to continue the process.

4. Collection

Samples are collected in facilities specially designed for this purpose: 

• In a room specially equipped for human tissue collection at Héma-Québec’s premises (ISO 8 clean room, according to ISO 14644-1 for all types of tissue collection)

• In a hospital setting (for corneal sampling only)

All sampling is carried out according to strict procedures that comply with Health Canada standards and the standards of various recognized regulatory agencies.

5. Processing and preservation

Most human tissues are processed and stored by freezing and cryopreservation, depending on the type of tissue, until they are needed for transplantation. They can be stored for up to five years. Only the cornea, an ocular tissue, is transplanted fresh, within a maximum of 14 days.

6. Distribution

Héma-Québec takes all necessary measures to ship products as quickly as possible, regardless of the circumstances. Depending on the required preservation conditions, products are shipped frozen, at room temperature, or in cryogenic containers. Transplants are thus delivered to health care professionals, who use them as needed and as prescribed, under optimal safety conditions.

Since December 2, 2024, Héma-Québec acts as the sole distributor of human tissues for all the needs of the Québec health care system.

Learn more about the mandate