Greece trails behind other European countries in organ donations, the Athens Medical Association (AMA) said on Thursday, but donations are however on the rise.
At an event ahead of Friday’s national Organ Donation Day, the AMA speakers pointed out that the average European country has 18 donors per million residents, while in Greece the ratio is 4.8 donors per million.
According to the organization’s data, there were 51 donors throughout Greece in 2016, 67 in 2017, 45 in 2018, and from the start of 2019 to the present, 53 donors have given organs to those who were in need.
On the occasion of the National Day of Organs and Transplants Donation, Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias made the following statement:
“Today, the National Day of Organs and Transplants Donation, we honor the anonymous doner due to whom lives have been saved. We thank the families that agreed for the donation, the transplant of organs, cells and tissues of their beloved to offer a second chance to many of our compatriots. As State, we have the obligation to deal with the problem as the number of transplants, even if it has increased in comparison with 2018, is still very low. As Health Ministry, we will proceed to the organization of a system of transplants of potential doners, mostly in ICUs, and in parallel to the systematic information of the citizens on the insuperable value of organ donation” he added.
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