health
Organ Transplantation in Serbia: Patients Die Waiting for Donors
In Serbia, annually, we have six donors per million inhabitants, while that number is 37 in Croatia, and even 90 in Spain. During 2025, only 55 percent of surveyed families gave consent for the donation of their loved ones' organs, so only 30 donors were introduced into the procedure.
TL;DR
- Serbia has significantly fewer organ donors per capita (6) compared to Croatia (37) and Spain (90).
- In 2025, only 55% of families consented to organ donation, resulting in only 30 donors being processed.
- Hundreds of patients, including children, are on waiting lists for kidney, liver, and heart transplants.
- Past successes in Serbian organ transplantation in the 1990s are contrasted with current challenges.
- Key issues include insufficient public education and trust, difficulties in determining brain death, and legal obstacles.
- The current law, declared unconstitutional in 2021, has not been adequately replaced, creating a legal vacuum.
- Patient associations advocate for respecting individuals' expressed will for organ donation over family decisions, aligning with European standards.
- The proposed amendments to the law have not been accepted, particularly regarding explicit consent for donation and expanding the pool of living donors.
- In 2024, 63 patients died in Serbia while waiting for transplants, with many more liver transplant candidates likely dying unrecorded.