Malaga's Hospital Regional carries out nine transplants in just 72 hours: six kidney and three liver transplants

These complex procedures require a multidisciplinary approach involving numerous specialists, as well as coordination bordering on excellence between departments.

This is not the first time the hospital has achieved such a remarkable feat. In the last few days of December 2025, it carried out a total of 16 transplants in less than six days: 13 kidney and three liver transplants.

The hospital's medical director, Abel García, thanked the healthcare professionals for the role they had played, "because without their high level of expertise, commitment and dedication to serving the public health service, it would not have been possible to achieve these results".

He also acknowledged "the extraordinary work of the transplant coordinators during an extremely intense period, as well as the support of the CATA (Andalusian regional transplant coordination unit)".

These nine transplants involved specialists from the departments of nephrology, urology, hepatology, hepatobiliopancreatic surgery, anaesthetology, intensive care, laboratory and diagnostic imaging, as well as nursing staff and other support services.

This year, Hospital Regional has carried out 186 transplants: 134 kidney transplants in adults, 44 liver transplants and eight pancreas transplants. Care for patients begins with their assessment and preparation and continues with specialist follow-up care, with the aim of improving their quality of life.

The former Carlos Haya hospital carried out a total of 284 transplants in 2025, making it the second-largest healthcare centre in Andalucía in terms of the number of such procedures, surpassed only by the Reina Sofía hospital in Cordoba, which carried out 306.

However, the number of transplants at Hospital Regional has fallen by 15.7 per cent compared with the 337 in 2024, when it became the hospital that performed the most kidney transplants in the whole of Spain.

According to the regional ministry of health, the hospital in Malaga carried out 206 kidney transplants, 67 liver transplants and eleven pancreas transplants in 2025.

In 2024, the figures were as follows: 337 transplants, almost one a day, representing a 20 per cent increase on 2023. Of these, 85 were liver transplants, ten were pancreas transplants and 242 were kidney transplants.

By hospital, the Reina Sofía in Cordoba tops the ranking with 306 transplants, of which 108 were kidney, 98 lung, 66 liver, 27 heart and seven pancreas transplants. Next comes Malaga's hospital, followed by the Virgen del Rocío hospital in Seville (267 transplants: 169 kidney, 77 liver and 21 heart), the Puerta del Mar hospital in Cadiz (141 kidney transplants) and the Virgen de las Nieves hospital in Granada (115 transplants, 79 kidney and 36 liver).

Furthermore, by 11 September 2026, the province had recorded 67 organ donors, 31 of them at Hospital Regional.

According to the report on organ donation and transplants, four Andalusian hospitals (Torrecárdenas, Virgen de la Victoria, Virgen Macarena and Juan Ramón Jiménez) are among the top ten hospitals without a transplant programme that have the highest levels of post-mortem donation activity.

Andalucía continues to break records in the field of organ and tissue donation and transplants. In 2025, a total of 875 donors were recorded for organs (471) and tissues (404), "the highest figure on record".

Furthermore, the region has once again recorded the highest absolute number of organ donors in Spain (471), according to the annual report on donation and transplants of the Ministry of Health and the ONT (national transplant organisation).

The donation rate in Andalucía stands at 54.4 donors per million population (ppm), almost three points above the national average of 51.9. "This is the highest rate among the country's three most populous regions, standing at around ten points above Madrid (41.2) or Catalonia (45.5)," regional minister of health Antonio Sanz said.

Hospitals in Andalucía also top the list for the number of liver transplants in the country, with 246, followed by Madrid with 213 and Catalonia with 206. The region also ranks second for kidney transplants, with 703, and for lung transplants, with 98.

"The solidarity of the people of Andalucía and the efforts of healthcare professionals continue to give us reasons to feel proud in the field of organ donation and transplants," Sanz said.

In 2025, Andalusian hospitals carried out a total of 1,113 organ transplants, the second-highest figure after the record set in 2024 with 1,222, and 7.64 per cent more than in 2023, with 1,034 transplants.

Of the total number of transplants last year, 703 were kidney transplants, 246 liver, 98 lung, 48 heart and 18 pancreas transplants.

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