With the aim of reviewing the situation, pooling ideas and projects and finding solutions to existing problems, the Commission launched a public consultation in recent days on the future action of the European Union in the field of organ donation and transplant. The consultation – due to end on 15 September – has been prompted by the constant increase of organ donations and transplants and by the consequent improvement in life expectancy (it is calculated that some 40,000 patients are now on the waiting list for organ transplants in member states, with a mortality rate “reduced” to ten persons per day). But the consultation has also been called in the light of a series of “obstacles that could slow down the progress being made by medicine in this area: lack of donors, trafficking of human organs, lack of legislative harmonization on quality and safety”. Equally, the number of donors per million inhabitants varies considerably from country to country. The consultation will also bring to the attention of those concerned three possible scenarios: continuing the current projects funded by EU programmes; “promoting an active coordination between member states”; and “studying the possibility of EU legislation in the sector to reinforce joint actions among member states.
