The National Transplantation Organization (NTO) has established November 1st as the “Panhellenic Organ Donation & Transplantation Day”.

The purpose of this day is to pay tribute to the deceased and living donors of organs and tissues, to raise awareness among the general public and to be an occasion for discussion and exchange of views with our close environment, around the important issue of Donation.

Organ Donation is one “life Gift” which our fellow human beings on our country’s organ transplant waiting lists are waiting for.

This gift comes from each of us individually with her Organ Donation Declarationand our inclusion in the National Registry of Organ & Tissue Donation.

See here how you can become a donor

At the same time, this gift comes from mental strength of the families of the donors who, through the pain of loss, find the strength to give their consent and donate the organs of their loved ones to other suffering fellow human beings.

Donors are steadily increasing

All the families who consented to Organ Donation, as well as the valuable support of the medical and paramedical staff of the Intensive Care Units and Transplantation Units of our country, are the most important links that contributed to the increase in Organ Donation and Transplantation in recent years in our country compared to previous years.

It is noteworthy that while in the past deceased organ donors ranged between 40 – 50 per yearin 2022 organs from 69 deceased donors were used for transplantation, while this year, before the end of 2023, we already count 74 organ donors and over 170 solid organ transplants.

THE President of the E.O.M., Prof. Georgios Papatheodoridis, says characteristically: “We are going through a period with important developments that I hope will change the picture in the field of transplants in Greece as a whole and especially solid organ transplants.

We now have a comprehensive National Plan, a new law on transplants has been passed and has begun to be implemented, the Local Transplant Coordinator institution has begun and is functioning through funding from the Onassis Foundation and is expected to be further strengthened with recruitment through the Ministry of Health . At the same time, several actions are carried out by the E.O.M. for the improvement of the quality, the better organization of the field of transplants, and the wider information and improvement of the culture of Organ Donation and Transplantation in our country through various patient associations, scientific societies and important actions of the Onassis Foundation. All of the above has led to an increase in the annual number of donors for the 2nd consecutive year, which leaves optimism for the stability of the improvement in this area.

I therefore believe that with the continued effort of the E.O.M., the Intensive Care Units and all our Transplantation Units, together with the support of the official State, the scientific community and the Greek society, we can succeed in improving our performance in area of ​​organ donation and transplantation so that we can give more and more patients a chance to live.”