EHLTF

The Council of Europe and the University Hospital Geneva organized both events, which this year were celebrated in Geneva, Switzerland on 22^nd October.

The program included conferences on the “Situation of Organ Donation and Transplantation in Europe and Switzerland” and the Football Match “Gift for Life”.

The conferences, held in the University Hospital Geneva, were attended by around 100 participants. On this occasion the European Committee on Transplantation (CD-P-TO) meets and gives lectures about the latest developments in Organ Donation and Transplantation.

During various presentations a range of subjects were discussed,
- 40 years of transplantation in Geneva, what next?
A special note was made that although a great deal of money is spent on healthcare, for example: cancer, far less is spent on organ transplantation.
We can all be organ donors but only a few will be organ recipients.
- The function of donation in our modern societies
Everything you get comes at a price. But with organ donation, it is a free donation.
- Guiding principles on good practice of organ donation and transplantation
Organ donation is organized in several ways, everybody is a possible donor.
Changes to public opinion about transplanted organs, the possibility of cancer, everyone does more travelling and takes more drugs.
In Germany one patient on the transplant waiting list dies every day and three people are added to the waiting list.
- Organ donation; constraints and resistance in relations and representations between individuals and the medical world
Everybody can choose to be a donor. How do you encourage people to be donors? What methods can you use for people to give their consent to be a donor - use the driving license / passport.
EU has to make more effort to promote organ donation.

A very positive way to promote Organ Donation was the Football Match “Gift for Life”, which took place in the Stade de Genéve in the afternoon of the EDODT. About 6000 visitors saw this match with professional players from Europe and Swiss artists. The professionals won 9:1.

The European Heart and Lung Transplant Federation was represented in Geneva by Vice Chairman André Lassooij, who had the opportunity to discuss current issues of Organ Donation and Transplantation with several prominent members of the Committee of Experts of the European Council (CD-P-TO). In this context the difficult situation in the Eastern European countries was pointed out, where only limited medical budgets are available for transplantation and supply of medication.