Even though Croatia is relatively small country in comparison to other world countries, when it comes to transplantation, the country is one of the best around the globe.
Eurotransplant, a non-profit organization for donation and allocation of deceased donor organs marked the 50th anniversary in Noordwijk in the Netherlands last week. The jubilee conference gathered more than 400 experts from all around the world, including Croatia.
Since its access to Eurotransplant in 2007, Croatia has achieved great results in the field of transplantation and become one of the most successful members of the organization and one of the first in the world.
Croatia started to conduct the experimental program since 1960s, whilst the first kidney transplantation was performed in 1971.
‘’Over the years now Croatia has been the first when it comes to the number of liver transplantations per million inhabitants. It means that our patients have more access to this type of transplantation, which is the most complex. Our Centre performs around 90 to 95 percent of liver transplantations in the country. In the last four to five years, we performed around 115-120 liver transplantations a year, in addition to kidney transplantation and combined kidney and pancreatic transplantation or liver and kidney transplantation, i.e. multi organ transplantations. By the number of liver transplantations, the Centre KBC Merkur in Zagreb is the largest centre in Eurotransplant’’, commented Dr Branislav Kocman, a transplantation surgeon and the manager of the Centre for organ transplantation at the KBC Merkur.
Dr Jasna Brezak, an anaesthesiologist and a KBC Zagreb transplant coordinator says that Croatian medicine can be extremely proud of the achievements in the field of transplantation.
‘’We have recorded fantastic figures. Among all members of Eurotransplant, Croatia has the shortest waiting lists for organ transplantations. We have 40 donors per million inhabitants, which is great and we are the best in the world. We perform the largest number of kidney and liver transplantations per million inhabitants and we are the second when it comes to heart transplantation’’, commented Dr Brezak.
