SLOVAKIA is reporting a long-term improvement in the number of major organ transplants performed, even though their number decreased between 2010 and 2011. Last year, Slovak doctors carried out 176 organ transplant operations, 45 fewer than in 2010. The number of kidney transplants fell by 35 to 132 and the number of heart transplants went down by two to 19. Liver transplants fell by eight to 25, the SITA newswire reported earlier this year, citing a report on fulfilment of the national transplant programme for 2011.
In spite of this annual drop the report stated that Slovakia has achieved a significant qualitative and quantitative move ahead over the previous five years and that the country is gradually catching up with its neighbours.
“When we evaluate the trend over the last 10 years, the number of liver transplants increased significantly over the last three years,” the report read. “Other organ transplant operations increased too.”
The report also positively assessed efforts to gradually reduce the number of transplants carried out abroad. This, it is argued, will increase the effectiveness of health spending and improve the skills of Slovak medical experts involved in transplants. The trend in cell transplantation was also reported to be positive, with 2011 the most successful year ever in terms of the number of bone marrow transplants performed.
In 2011 transplants undertaken in Slovakia included those of organs such as kidney, heart and liver as well as of tissues such as skin, eye tissues, blood vessels, heart valves and bone marrow.
