In partnership with the Ministry of Health of Serbia, patient associations ‘Together for a New Life’, ‘Donation is Heroism’, ‘PAN Transplant’ and in cooperation with B92 Fund, Hemofarm Group and its Foundation continue their campaign for the increase of number of donors and transplants, Serbia's membership in "Eurotransplant" and the adoption of the amendments to the Law on Transplantation - ‘The Most Important Call in Life’. The faces behind the campaign are people who have given their consent for the organs of a deceased family member to be donated, patients who are waiting for an organ transplant or have been transplanted, and doctors who will indicate the magnitude of this problem and the importance of organ bequests to citizens, in order to increase the number of donors and save lives of around 2,000 people, including about 40 children, who are waiting for a transplant.



Since the beginning of 2025, five families have given their consent for organ donation of deceased members, which saved 22 lives. Thanks to their decision, seven kidneys, four livers, three hearts and eight corneas were donated. Eight families refused to donate organs, missing the opportunity to permanently improve the quality of life of those waiting for a donor.

When the "The Most Important Calling in Life" campaign was first launched in 2016, the number of donors tripled, because, with the help of various institutions, organizations and distinguished individuals, the campaign raised awareness of the importance of organ donation in our society. June 6 was also declared the National Donor Day.

We declared the second half of the game for life in 2019 and called our best athletes to action. We decided to, playing the national pride card, reverse the result which at that moment showed that countries in the surrounding area had a significantly higher number of organ donors than Serbia, and that we were at the very bottom of the European table. ‘I am a donor too! Because I support Serbia’ said our sports aces Ivana Španović, Maja Ognjenović, Dejan Stanković, Dejan Savić, Branko Lazić, Dragan Škrbić, Zoran Tošić. Proven champions have made a champion contribution to spreading the truth and fighting prejudices, thereby increasing the number of donors and saving people's lives.

And then came the biggest public health crisis, COVID 19, so the national transplant program was almost completely stopped. In 2022, only two transplants were announced. That's why, at the invitation of the Ministry of Health of Serbia and the Republic Health Insurance Fund, in 2023 we relaunched a campaign that encourages the culture of donation and raised the number of transplants to 32.

In 2024, the campaign "The most important calling in life" continued, at one minute to 12 o'clock, on Wednesday, October 16, with the installation of 2,000 hourglasses on Trg Republike, which symbolically represents about 2,000 people who are on the list for organ transplantation in Serbia and which carries the message that time is running out. Under the slogan Become Better People. Be a Donor., we aimed again to raise public awareness to create a society of responsible and compassionate individuals who embrace organ donation as the most humane act. Thanks to the campaign and the consent of nine families, 44 transplants were performed in 2024. Fifteen families refused to donate the organs of their loved ones who experienced brain death.



The Serbian Orthodox Church, as the most trusted institution, came out publicly, not long after this campaign, and announced that the church "agrees with organ transplantation if the donor voluntarily bequeathed his organs, and the donor's family gave their consent posthumously." All of this is valid, it was pointed out in the church's announcement, "with the fact that the donor's death was determined by an expert medical commission in accordance with medical ethics." It is believed that this attitude of the church could help the National Organ Transplantation Program and encourage donation in Serbia.

Apart from the support of the Serbian Orthodox Church, it is also important that Serbia gets a Law that would regulate this area. The Law on Transplantation of Human Organs was adopted in 2018 and it assumed all citizens are potential organ donors unless they expressly oppose it. In 2021, the Constitutional Court issued a decision that declared Article 23 of the Law related to the donation of human organs from a deceased person unconstitutional, and the Ministry of Health was given a deadline of 6 months to amend the draft Law. Since then, Serbia has been in legal limbo, and despite several attempts, changes to the Law were not adopted because the parliamentary convocation was dissolved. At the end of 2024, a Working Group was formed to work on the text of the draft amendments to the law. One of the proposals that is now being considered is the one submitted by the Patient Association "Donation is Heroism", which advocates for a Law based on the principle of the autonomy of the individual's will.

There is still a long road ahead of us - apart from the adoption of amendments to the Law, the waiting list for organ transplantation in Serbia to be eliminated requires at least ten donors per million inhabitants in order to become a member of the international organ exchange organization "Eurotransplant".

Organ donation is a precious gift of life, which helps to save or improve people's lives. We appeal to everyone to help us and support donation because it is the only way to build a responsible and humane society, which must be in the interest of all of us.

Become Better People. Be a Donor.