More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Pacemakers removed from the dead are to be recycled for the living in a scheme pioneered by a west Kent funeral parlour.
The heart machines are currently removed before cremation and destroyed or stockpiled.
But Abbey Funeral Services director Jo Parker, 41, has come up with an idea to send those with 70% battery life to be re-used in the developing world.
The mother-of-two, who has worked for the 30-year-old Tonbridge family firm for 20 years, said: "I saw brand new pacemakers being sent away to be destroyed and thought that there must be something we can do.
"Now that 90% of families ask for cremations, the problem of disposing them is growing.
"We live in a throw-away world. It just needs someone to say 'let's do something about this'.
"This way, families can provide a legacy by donating the thing which helped prolong their loved one's life to someone else."
Miss Parker teamed up with Pace4Life founder Balasundaram Lavan, who runs a charity working with the University of Michigan to find a way to sterilise the equipment.
A recycled pacemaker would cost about 10% of the price for a new one - approximately £250-350 - which would be met by charities.
About 100 UK funeral directors have signed up for the scheme, which requires consent from the deceased's next-of-kin, with countries such as Ghana and Pakistan first in line to benefit.
"Families can provide a legacy by donating the thing which helped prolong their loved one's life to someone else..." - Jo Parker
The project is expected to go live next spring, once approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
But Miss Parker hopes the scheme could one day be approved by the UK and expanded to include other medical equipment.
She said: "We are focusing on developing countries, but even our own NHS doesn't have the kind of money to keep paying for new pacemakers while perfectly usable ones are being destroyed.
"All the feedback I have got from funeral directors has been very positive, it is just about finding a safe and ethical way to do it.
"It has been a long journey, but it will definitely be worth it if it helps to save lives."
Several Kent funeral parlours have signed up to the scheme so far, including Abbey Funeral Services, High Street, Tonbridge; Birds Funeral Directors, Tonbridge Road, Maidstone; E R Hickmott and Son, Grove Hill Road, Tunbridge Wells; and J Kempster & Sons, Albion Road, Tunbridge Wells.
