Willingness to donate organs has risen again

In recent years, the number of organ donors in Germany has fallen sharply. The cause included several transplant scandals. Numerous educational campaigns have since tried to change the situation. Now, the willingness to donate organs has apparently risen again slightly.

Only about every third person has an organ donor card
The willingness to donate organs has apparently risen again in Germany, according to a message from the news agency AFP. As the "Bild m Sonntag" ("BamS") reported on a still unpublished study of the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA), 71 percent of Germans basically agreed that they would be taken after their death heart, lungs or other organs. In 2013, the value was only 68 percent. Only 35 percent of the respondents had an organ donor card, in 2012 it had been 22 percent even less.

Human lives could be saved
According to the report, Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe (CDU) appealed to deal with a possible organ donation. Opposite the "BamS" he said: "Every eight hours a person dies because no suitable organ is available. In other words, three lives could be saved every day. "Eurotransplant recently announced that there are currently around 10,600 patients waiting for a donor organ. Gröhe called on the German citizens to inform themselves and record their decision in an organ donor card. "The willingness to donate organs can be revoked at any time," said the BZgA recently. (Ad)

Picture credits: Günther Richter