Germany seeks Spain's help to sort out their transplant system

Transplant team at work

SPAIN Germany recently sent a delegation to Spain's National Transplant Organization (ONT), to study the systems it uses to attain many of the best donation and transplant indicators in the world. Germany wants to reorganize its own systems, after a recent scandal there revealed serious manipulation of waiting lists. The head of the delegation and head of DSO, the German transplant organization, Herr Professor Rainer Hess, invited his counterpart at ONT, Dr. Rafael Matesanz, to visit Germany to explain to the German parliament, the Bundestag, how and why the Spanish system works so well, and the possibilities of adapting there. Hess was given a year to show improvements.

Two organ donors enable ten transplants

Punta de Europa Hospital, Algeciras

ALGECIRAS (Agencies) The families of two separate donors recently enabled two life-saving transplants and an improvement in quality of life for another eight. In the first half of July, the Punta de Europa Hospital in Algeciras obtained permission from relatives that resulted in two liver transplants, four kidneys and four cornea operations at various hospitals in the province and in Andalucía. Luis Vallejo, head transplant coordinator for the region, said that these donations put into operation a network of 40 health workers in different areas, all of whom saw this as a wonderful opportunity to improve the lives of many patients. He also thanked the families concerned, "who made a difficult decision in painful circumstances." Vallejo also called on others to consider becoming organ donors "as you never know when one might be needed." (Do you know how to become an organ donor in Spain? Watch this space.) So far this year, the various health facilities in the Campo de Gibraltar have registered five donations of organs and tissue, which is an improvement on the same period last year and is expected to increase even further by the end of the year. As to the province as a whole,>>>

Six people benefit from a single multi-organ donation

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) Heart, kidneys, pancreas, liver and tissue were transplanted from a single donor, saving three lives and improving the quality of life of three more. The multi-organ donation took place at La Línea Hospital this month, according to the coordinator of the transplant unit at the hospital, Luis Vallejo, who announced that all transplants were successful. The donation set into motion a complex procedure that eventually involved some thirty health care professionals from the local health authority (Área de Gestión Sanitaria) to the National Transplant Organization. Vallejo thanked the donor's family for "their enormous consideration at such a difficult time."