Swisstransplant is the Swiss National Foundation for Organ Donation and Transplantation. On behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), it is responsible, in its capacity as National Allocation Office, for the allocation of organs to recipients in accordance with the applicable law, and is in charge of the corresponding waiting list. Swisstransplant organizes all organ allocation activities at a national level and works closely with allocation organizations abroad. Furthermore, Swisstransplant regularly compiles statistics on the number of organ donors, transplants and waiting times.

In 2009, Swisstransplant was commissioned by the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Ministers of Public Health (GDK) to coordinate the tasks of the cantons laid down in the Swiss Transplantation Act at a national level, to exploit synergies and to ensure collaboration with the organ donation networks.

On behalf of the Swiss association for joint tasks of health insurers (SVK) and H+ Die Spitäler der Schweiz (Swiss hospitals association), the Swisstransplant office is responsible, in accordance with clear requirements and rates, for paying the costs incurred during the donation process that are not covered by the recipient’s case-based flat rate of Swiss Diagnosis Related Groups (SwissDRG) to the partners involved in the donation process. In this context, Swisstransplant is responsible, together with its logistics partner Alpine Air Ambulance (AAA), for the overall transport logistics in the donation process.

Swisstransplant’s governing body is the Foundation Council. A team of around 40, led by PD Dr med. Franz F. Immer, work at the Swisstransplant office in Bern. The organ allocation coordination team is available 24 hours a day. The director and the heads of department are responsible for the executive management of Swisstransplant. The Swisstransplant team is supported by two committees: the National Committee for Organ Donation (CNDO) and the Medical Committee (CM).

The CNDO promotes organ and tissue donation and is committed to a high-quality donation process in Switzerland that is bound by ethical and legal principles.

The CM is Swisstransplant’s medical committee, which deals with issues relating to transplant medicine and establishes links with the transplant centres.