Public consultation on new organ transplant system launched, as opt-out proposal is scrapped

The Health Ministry has launched a public consultation aimed at changing Malta’s organ donation system, but the change won’t involve an opt-out system.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela said that the change involves harvesting one’s organs after cardiac death instead of brain death, a model called donation after circulatory death (DCD).

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.

During the press conference, Abela stated that after consulting with experts, Malta won’t be moving toward an opt-out system of organ donation.

Last year, government and the opposition found common ground after PN MP Ivan Bartolo proposed a shift towards an opt-out system where people over the age of 16 would be presumed as organ donors unless they opt out. Bartolo was also present at the press conference representing the opposition.

When asked about why such plans were scrapped, the health minister said that an opt-out system simply wouldn’t increase organ transplants as much as a DCD system.

Abela explained that under a DCD system, organ transplants could increase by as much as 40% to 50%.

Abela and Bartolo have already spoken with experts and church leaders in Malta and Gozo, where they were all on the same page on a shift to a DCD system.

The consultation will be open to the public for the next two months.

The health minister said that this change would mean more investments in the healthcare sector in order to equip Malta’s hospitals on the surge in demand of organ harvesting.

Last week, MaltaToday reported that among the patients awaiting organ transplants, 95 people in Malta are in need of kidney transplants. 

One person is waiting for a heart transplant, another is waiting for a new liver, and three people need a lung transplant