Italy's Ministry of Health reported last Monday (13) that the number of organ donations and transplants broke records in the country in 2024.
The ministry reported that the European nation registered 2.110 organ donations over the course of last year, which represented an increase of 2,7% compared to 2023.
The number of transplants performed in Italy reached a total of 4.692, 226 more than the year before.
Almost half of the transplants performed in 2024 were kidney transplants (2.393, +6,6% compared to the previous year), while liver transplants saw a sharp increase (1.732, +1,8%). Lung interventions, on the other hand, saw a slight drop (from 188 to 174).
What caught the attention of health authorities was the increase in heart transplants, which reached 418, an increase of 13% compared to 2023. The main driver for this was the growth in donations from patients whose death is confirmed after a cardiac arrest lasting at least 20 minutes.
The Italian regions with the highest donation rates were Tuscany (49,4 donors per million), Emilia-Romagna (45,5) and Veneto (44,7). Significant growth was also recorded in Sicily, Campania and Calabria.
“Organ donations are a sign of civilization and have increased, but I believe we can do even more. These figures are evidence of the value and quality of our public health system.
This is what we want to preserve and improve in a complex world, because today's healthcare is very different from what it was 45 years ago,” said Italy's Health Minister Orazio Schillaci. (HANDLE)
