Organ transplant law put to consultation
The Health Ministry’s draft legislation to modernize the law on organ donation and transplantation was put to public consultation on Wednesday without, however, including some provisions initially proposed by a special committee and approved in a recent cabinet meeting.
Among these omissions is the appointment of local transplant coordinators in intensive care units, considered vital for the promotion of organ donation.
Also omitted was the proposal that the recruitment of staff for the Hellenic Transplantation Organization (EOM) would be conducted by EOM itself. The proposal to introduce a fee of 1 euro per dialysis session, for EOM to ensure its adequate funding, also appears to have been removed. Instead, additional resources for EOM beyond the annual subsidy from the regular Health Ministry budget will be approved by a joint ministerial decision.
Despite these omissions, the draft received generally positive reviews. According to the Health Ministry, the key points of the draft include, among others, the upgrading of the Living Donor Committee, the introduction of the obligation for transplant units to monitor the donor at least once a year and for the rest of their life, clear provisions on when organs are removed, the introduction of the concept of cardiac death, the rule of priority for operations of removal and transplantation in relation to other surgical operations, the establishment of criteria to evaluate transplant centers, and a system monitoring these criteria.
