90 patients awaiting kidney transplants

95 people are awaiting kidney transplants, while another five are on the waiting list to receive other organs—heart, lungs and liver— figures tabled in parliament show.

Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela gave the breakdown in response to a parliamentary question raised by Nationalist MP Chris Said.

One person is waiting for a heart transplant, another is waiting for a new liver, three people need a lung transplant, while 95 individuals are awaiting kidney transplants.

Abela’s answer shows the seemingly constant demand for kidney transplants. In 2022, former Health Minister Chris Fearne stated that there were 90 people waiting for kidney transplants at the time.

Fearne had also explained that between 2018 and 2022, there were 67 organ transplants, and apart from those awaiting a new kidney, there were 20 patients who needed a new cornea. In his response, Jo Etienne Abela reiterated that the government is looking towards a new organ donation system, specifically, a model called donation after circulatory death (DCD).

Earlier this month, Cabinet had approved the new framework which is set to be subject to a public consultation at the beginning of December. Abela anticipated that the DCD system could boost the number of transplants by 50%.

Currently, organ donations occur after donors are declared brain dead. Under a DCD system, organ donations can go ahead after one’s heart stops beating.

The key difference between DCD and donations after brain death is that the former can be done if the patient has no hope of recovery and their life is being prolonged with treatment. In parliament, Abela also noted that the introduction of DCD had received support from the church.