Health
Lauterbach: Organ donation register starts on March 18th
“The digital organ donation register will finally be launched on March 18th,” says Karl Lauterbach (SPD). photo
© Felix Müschen/dpa
Actually, the organ donation register should have started long ago. Now it should actually happen soon. But patient advocates still see some problems.
According to the Federal Minister of Health, the planned organ donation register is to be Karl Lauterbach will go online in March. “The digital organ donation register will finally be launched on March 18th,” said the SPD politician to the “Rheinische Post” (Saturday). It will not immediately solve the organ donation shortage, but it is an important step forward. “The registration is completely voluntary, but helps the clinics to act more quickly,” said Lauterbach.
The introduction of the register had been delayed several times – it was decided in 2020. In the register you should be able to save declarations about your willingness to donate organs online. All citizens should be addressed directly about the issue at least every ten years.
The board of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch, warned on Sunday that no more valuable time should be allowed to pass. At the same time, he criticized the fact that hardly any passport or citizens’ office was able to “fulfill the legal mandate of the obligation to provide information.” The digital connections to the register were also missing. “The dispute over money overshadows everything. The heads of government of the federal states are now called upon to define a binding Germany timetable for connecting the online organ donation register in cities and municipalities,” Brysch told the dpa.
More than 8,000 people are currently on the waiting list
According to the German Organ Transplantation Foundation, Germany is at the bottom of the international comparison when it comes to organ donation. There is a significant shortage of donor organs. In mid-January, around 8,400 people nationwide were waiting for one or more organs. Last year, 965 people donated one or more organs after their death, 96 more than the year before.
Lauterbach again spoke out in favor of the contradictory solution to organ donation. This is “the only way to really remedy the deficiency”. This would mean that the consent of the person concerned or a close relative or an authorized representative would no longer be required for organ removal, as is the case with the currently applicable extended consent solution. In principle, every person would be considered an organ donor unless they objected to this during their lifetime or one of their next of kin does so after their death.