White paper on organ donation planned for coming months

Parliamentary Secretary for Health Chris Fearne announced that the government is currently working to publish a white paper on organ donation.  

He was speaking during the presentation of donations to the Renal Unit at Mater Dei Hospital by NGOs Lupus Support Group and Life Cycle Organisation.

Fearne said, “This white paper will lead to the first organ donation law in Malta and it will be published in the coming months”.

During his address, Fearne highlighted that this year 18 kidney transplants have been successfully conducted - 15 from cadaver donors and 3 from living donors.

Fearne thanked the staff for their dedication and efforts and remarked that the renal unit currently takes care of 250 patients from which 165 are on haemodialysis and 85 on peritoneal dialysis. 65 patients visit this unit daily. This year, over 17,000 sessions of renal replacement therapy have been done.

Fearne called on the general public to help the renal unit by donating blood and registering as organ donors. Currently, there are 80 to 85 patients waiting for a kidney while the Renal Unit requires 2-3 units of blood daily.