In 2006, the amount of deceased organdonors decreased again, from 90 donors in 2005 to 80 donors in 2006. Eventhough, the living donors increased, the gap between the amount of people waiting for an organ and the ones offering an organ is widening.

Livingdonation is only possible for kidney or a part of the liver transplantation. Therefore, all the patients who are not able to profit of living donation, like for example, patients waiting for a heart or a lung, face an even longer waitingtime.

Due to the good medical attendance in our hospitals, in the year 2006 , there haven't been more dying patients waiting on the waitinglist than the year before (38).However, 38 deceased are too many.

Hopefully the new law, which will come effective on July 1,2007, will fill in the blank about the topic of organtransplantation in Switzerland.

In addition to the new, upcoming law, all the cantons will be obligated to employ, so called, "Key donor professionals" in all the hospitals with ICU's.The main task of specifically trained medical doctors and nurses, will be, to detect all the organdonors and to organise and prompt all the needed classifications, discussions and arrangements, according to all the statutory rules and internationally accepted standards.

On behalf of all the patients waiting for an organ on a waitinglist, and this could happen to each one of us, Swisstransplant is hoping, that with the new statutory framework, the teamwork among all the relevant people, will be further improved, thus, that in Switzerland, the willingness for organdonation after death will be changing for better.

Conrad E. Müller MD

Head of Swisstransplant

Preliminary Statistics 2006 II