Over 4.000 people on transplant waiting lists

Over 4.000 people need a transplant and are on waiting lists. These lists could be shorter and more lives would be saved if there was more education on organ donation, both among medical staff and the general public.

The executive director of the National Transplant Agency pointed out on Friday at the annual conference on the subject that 33 centers included in the transplant program have been reaccredited in the last two years and 24 new centers have been accredited. At the same time, a new national transplant registry has been established.

RRA reporter Adriana Turea tried to find out what patients think about this field and spoke to a kidney transplant recipient: "Mrs. Amali Teodorescu, you are the vice-president of the Romanian Transplant Association, what should we do to make people more inclined towards organ donation when we are faced with the choice of whether to donate an organ to a loved one or not?

Amali Teodorescu: "Maybe it would be useful if sometimes, when we talk at home, in the family, we could talk about this as well. Whether we agree or disagree matters less at that moment, what matters is simply to discuss it, to get used to the subject, and then, if you are put in the situation of having to make a decision, to accept or refuse, to be somehow accustomed to the idea, at least to have heard it."

What is life like as a post-transplant patient? You've been transplanted for years.

Amali Teodorescu: "About 30. You live every moment and enjoy it. You don't know what's waiting for you in the next second, but you enjoy the present."

What could be improved in this area?

Amali Teodorescu: "I think everyone involved, in one way or another, wants more donors, wants shorter waiting lists, wants post-transplant follow-up in a multidisciplinary team, wants grafts that are functional for as long as possible, so we want to be doing better.""

Translated by: Radu Matei