Education, experience reports and the latest research: experts discuss solutions to increase the number of donor organs.
It gets under your skin: a tattoo of your own indicates your willingness to be an organ donor. Copyright: pexels / Inka Burow
At the Hannover Medical School (MHH) alone, around 1,000 patients are currently waiting for an organ, and nationwide there are more than 8,200. "The situation for patients urgently waiting for an organ donation remains dramatic," says Dr Axel Rahmel of the German Organ Transplantation Foundation. Although 85 per cent of people in Germany have a positive attitude towards organ donation, only a minority have documented their decision.
Facilitating consent or even introducing the objection solution are ways in which politicians are reacting to the shortage of donor organs. The Bundestag has not yet voted on the recently much-discussed legislative initiative on this. The problem is complex. Beyond political approaches, better education is also needed. And last but not least, research can also help.
To talk about organ donation, the HAZ and the MHH invite you to a talk. Guests include the senior physician at the MHH Clinic for General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, Dr Markus Quante, the transplantation officer Dr Frank Logemann, the medical ethicist Dr Gertrud Greif-Higer from Mainz, Anita Wolf from the donor families network and Michael Gertzmann, who received a new lung transplant at the MHH in 2020. He is a member of the patient advisory board at the MHH Transplant Centre and says: "Organ donation concerns everyone. It can affect anyone, whether as a recipient or a donor, or a donor family."
The talk on organ donation will take place on Thursday, 27 February, at 6 p.m. in Lecture Hall G (Building J1; map of the campus). HAZ readers can already send their questions for the forum to the editorial team at hannover@haz.de with the keyword "Organ Donation Forum". The event is free of charge. Registration is not required.
Link to the HAZ article (in German): https://www.haz.de/lokales/hannover/reden-sie-mit-naechster-haz-talk-in-der-mhh-zum-thema-organspende-GKV5QQC6VFAO5P72CKKK263MGU.html
Text: Camilla Mosel