Serbia marks June 6, the National Donor Day, while at the same time almost 2000 people are awaiting their donor and call for organ transplantation. Due to the small number of donors in Serbia for several years already, 736 people are currently waiting for a kidney transplant, 66 people are waiting for a liver transplant, while 36 people are waiting for a heart.
In order to increase the number of donors and transplantations in Serbia,
Hemofarm and Foundation Hemofarm in partnership with
The Ministry of Health of Serbia,
Republic Health Insurance Fund, patients association
"Together for New Life" have again this spring initiated the campaign
“The Most Important Call in Life“. The campaign, which was initially launched in 2016, has the task of encouraging a culture of donorship with the aim of building a more humane society believing in solidary.
’National Donor Day which was established on June 6, 2016 upon the initiative of Hemofarm Foundation, is an opportunity to point out the importance of organ donation and transplantation as the most responsible, compassionate and humane act that one person can do for another human being. Our battle for life and increase of number of donors in Serbia has been going on since 2016. This is in a way also a personal mission of every one of us in Hemofarm and with this campaign we wish to change the people’s awareness on this subject. Previous campaign increased the number of donors from 2 to 6 per million of inhabitants, but then there was COVID-19 pandemic, which almost completely stopped the donorship and transplantation program in Serbia. That’s why it is again necessary for us all to get involved so that patient waiting lists cease to exist,’ said
Ronald Seeliger, CEO of the Hemofarm Group and said that humanity must know no boundaries.
Mladen Todić, the founder of the patient association ’Together for New Life’ emphasized that the current situation in the transplantation program is very bad and that citizens' awareness of the topic of organ donation is at a very low level.
’Serbia is at the bottom of the European list in terms of the number of donors per million inhabitants, and the devastating fact is that only two cadaveric organ transplants were performed last year. What is promising, and I believe this campaign contributed to it, is that since the beginning of this year, there have been twice as many consents than during the whole last year. It gives hope to all those patients, and there are 2000 of them and over 30 children who are waiting for the most important call in their lives. On the other hand, I appeal to all the important factors of society, the state, the profession, patients, the media and the church, to get involved in raising the awareness of citizens and to remove the fears associated with this topic with joint efforts. That's why every June 6, all of us who have received a transplant publicly thank our donors who saved and extended our lives, and not a day goes by that I don't think of my donor, and the greatest gratitude and measure of humanity of that act is my family who stayed together, and the fact that my daughter is growing up having a father,’ said Todić.
On this day, citizens are reminded that there are 20 times more chances that you will need a donor in your life than you will have the opportunity to be a donor and that just one donor can save as many as eight lives.
