Patients from Serbia on Italian organ transplant lists – Rome and Belgrade to sign agreement on transplantation

Patients from Serbia will be able to get organs for transplantation in Italy as well. Up to 14 patients from Serbia will be able to enter the Italian waiting list a year, as Novosti learns at the Ministry of Health: up to 10 for the regular program and up to four in urgent need of transplantation. For those who are waiting for donors' organs, this is the most important part of the Technical Protocol which will be signed by the Department of Biomedicine of Serbia and the Italian National Transplant Center.

The protocol will be signed by the directors of these two organizations, Dr Vesna Rakonjac and Dr Alessandro Nanni Costa. This is, in fact, a “development” of the Memorandum of Understanding between the ministries of health of Serbia and Italy on the cooperation in the field of healthcare and medical science, signed on June 1, 2011, in Rome. Among other things, the document envisages training, building of capacities and exchange of experiences. Health institutions of the two countries have been successfully cooperating for a long time in the field of organ transplant, especially in the field of liver transplant. Around 60 children from Serbia have been to the center in Bergamo for the purpose of liver transplant covered by health insurance since 2007.

– The agreement with the Ministry of Health of Italy will enable patients from Serbia in urgent need of a transplant to be put on the Italian list and get the organ needed as soon as possible – says Minister of Health of Serbia Zlatibor Loncar.

According to the provisions of the Technical Protocol, reviewed by Novosti, there are two requirements for Serbian citizens to be included on the Italian organ transplant list: putting Serbian patients on the list mustn't jeopardize patients from Italy waiting for an organ and the organ needs to be returned. In case of transplant procedures on Serbian patients in Italy, the organ needs to be returned to the Italian National Transplant Network within six months. The costs of transplantation procedures on Serbian patient in Italy will be covered by the National Health Insurance Fund of Serbia.

The cooperation with Italy is important for doctors as well, as it entails a training program for healthcare workers involved in programs of organ donation and transplantation, professional visits, meetings in both countries at least once a year...

Eurotransplant requirements met

In the year of Serbia's trial run as a joint member of the Eurotransplant International Foundation, the country has met every requirement set by the organization, according to Minister Loncar, and it only remains for the Law on Transplantation to be put before the parliament.

– We had the biggest number of heart donors and transplants last year, with over 90 lives saved within the transplant program alone, and we are continuing in the direction – Loncar said.

Ministarstvo zdravlja Republike Srbije

Republički fond za zdravstveno osiguranje Beograd

Eurotransplant International Foundation Netherlands

Ministry of Health

Zlatibor Loncar

organ transplant

Department of Biomedicine

Italian National Transplant Center

Vesna Rakonjac

Alessandro Nanni Costa

Italian organ transplant waiting list

Italian National Transplant Network

National Health Insurance Fund

NHIF

Eurotransplant International Foundation

Eurotransplant

Law on Transplantation

organ donation

organ transplant in Italy

organ transplant in Italy covered by NHIF

Bergamo

liver transplant