Organ and tissue donations in Malaga province are higher than the Andalusian and national average

The Clínico Virgen de la Victoria hospital in Malaga city received the most donations in the province from January to August this year: 24 organs and 23 tissue donations.

With regard to organ transplants, the Regional Hospital in Malaga (formerly the Carlos Haya) transplanted 82 kidneys, 27 livers and two pancreases up until 2 September, and in Malaga province 82 cornea implants were also carried out.

The figures show that 34 per cent of tissue donations from Andalucía were from donors in Malaga province, in other words more than one third of the total in the region.

In the past 20 years the profile of donors has changed, Dr Domingo Daga, the coordinator for Malaga province, has explained. Before, the organs were donated from young, healthy victims of accidents and they provided five or six which were suitable for transplant. Nowadays the average donor is 66, with a cardio-vascular risk (high blood pressure, diabetes, etc) and dies from a stroke. Because of their age and condition, the number of organs suitable for transplant is normally two, and in 20 per cent of cases none can be used.

Dr Daga says that more donors are always needed, because the average age is higher now and many of those who die are suffering from chronic illnesses. He called on people to register as donors, so that “the majority of people who need a transplant can have one in the shortest possible time, and with the maximum guarantees of quality and safety”.