The Diplomat in Spain

The Diplomat

The National Transplant Organization (ONT) reported yesterday that 48 organ transplants were carried out in Spain last Wednesday, which represents a new record in just 24 hours.

Specifically, 17 families said yes to organ donation at the time they lost a loved one. That same day, two other people donated an organ while they were alive. In total, in 24 hours, 19 people gave 48 patients the opportunity to save or improve the quality of their lives, thanks to organ donation.

“This activity was the result of great teamwork and the efforts of hundreds of professionals and organizations coordinated to the millimeter by the ONT, so that the valuable gesture of donation becomes the reality of the transplant,” the organization reported in a statement.

There were 29 hospitals from eleven autonomous communities involved in this new transplant record. Of the 48 transplants carried out, 25 were kidney, 11 liver, 7 lung, 3 heart and two pancreas. Furthermore, one of the transplants was performed on a patient with zero urgency, that is, a patient in a critical situation, with imminent risk of death if the transplant is not performed in time.

Among the transplanted people were three children and a patient included in the National Plan for Access to Transplantation for Hyperimmunized Patients (PATHI) of the ONT, “patients with enormous difficulties in receiving a transplant due to their immunological characteristics,” the organization indicates.

To transport organs and transplant equipment, it was necessary to mobilize six private planes and the collaboration of two commercial flights, from Iberia and Vueling, with the involvement of the airports of A Coruña, Barcelona, Córdoba, Madrid, Santiago de Compostela. , Seville, Valencia, Valladolid, and Vitoria.

Last Wednesday’s organ transplant activity surpasses the previous record recorded on November 29, 2019, when 38 transplants were performed in 24 hours from 19 deceased donors, one of them from another country. “This number of procedures confirms the robustness of the Spanish donation and transplant model and the solidarity of our citizens,” the ONT points out.

In 2023, 5,863 organ transplants were performed in Spain, which represents a rate of 122.1 transplants per million population. This was possible thanks to the 2,346 people who donated their organs after death, which places the donation rate at 48.9 donors per million population, and the 437 people who donated an organ while alive. Spain has maintained world leadership in organ donation for more than three decades.

The autonomous communities involved in the donation and transplant activity on April 17 were: Andalusia, Cantabria, Canary Islands, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Valencian Community, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid, Basque Country and Principality of Asturias.