Spain still leads in organ donation

Despite a series of cutbacks to the health service as a result of the economic crisis, Spain is still leading the way in terms of organ donations and transplants.

 

Since its inception 25 years ago in 1989, the Spanish National Transplant Organization (ONT) has overseen more than 90,500 organ transplant operations.

ONT has managed some 57,000 kidney transplants, 21,576 liver transplants, 7,024 heart transplants, 3,200 lung transplants and over 1,500 pancreas transplant operations.

These impressive figures have been helped by the fact that Spain has the highest rate of organ donors in the world.

Last year, around 1,655 people in Spain donated their organs, with an average of 35.1 donors per million people, well above the European Union average of 19.2 per million.

According to ONT, in 2013 the average number of donors in Spain was between 5 and 6 donors per day.

However, these figures vary, with peaks of 14, 15 or 16 donors at times. It was during one of these peaks that the ONT set a new record, achieving a record 45 transplants in one day.

In 2010 ONT was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation.

 

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