The number of organ donors has declined in Romania over the past two years. If in 2016 there were 123 donors, in 2017 their number dropped to 65 donors, according to data from the Health Ministry. Since the beginning of the year, 30 organ donors were recorded in the country.

By comparison, in 2014 there were 138 donors, while in 2015 their number stood at 115.

Patient associations argue that a transplant law is needed, alongside the option of allowing transplants to take place in private hospitals.

“We need more transplant centers and doctors trained for all types of transplant. We would like that private transplant activity access this therapeutic area,” Gheorghe Tache, the president of the Romanian Transplant Patients Association, said, quoted by Stiri.tvr.ro.

The Health Ministry said it is working on a transplant law which should come under public debate within two months. Sorina Pintea, the health minister, also said she hoped that the reorganization of the National Transplant Agency (ANT) and a transplant law that would regulate this activity fairly and transparently would convince the population of the benefits of organ donation.

This month the director of the ANT was dismissed after a 29-year old man from Brasov died waiting for a lung transplant.

In the new transplant law, Romania could copy the Spanish model which includes a presumed consent, Adevarul reported. This means that all citizens are considered organ donors unless they specifically refuse donation.

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Death of young Romanian reveals transplant bureaucracy

Controversies surrounding the first lung transplant in Romania

editor@romania-insider.com