The Republic of Moldova is interested in the experience of the states that made progress in the transplantation of organs. The health authorities want to know the best models for keeping the organs taken from persons pronounced dead. In order to learn from the experience of other state, the Ministry of Health, the European Commission and the Transplant Agency are holding an international meeting in Chisinau on April 25-26, IPN reports.

In the opening of the meeting, acting Health Minister Andrei Usatyi said that in a short period of time Moldova adopted a number of legal acts aimed at restoring the transplantation services. There were solved a number of major problems such as the designation of the institutions that can perform these operations. The Moldovan specialists took part in a series of training courses on transplantation.

Operations to transplant kidneys, liver and cornea have been already performed in Moldova. “The transplantation services are very costly. There appeared the necessity of finding methods to reduce the costs. Therefore, we need the experience of the states that achieved successes in this field. More than 20 persons are taking part in this meeting and I hope that Moldova will have what to learn,” said the minister.

Transplant Agency director Igor Codreanu said that only organs from living donors are now taken in Moldova. Only tissues are taken from dead persons. From next year, they plan to perform heart transplants, but the mechanism for taking organs from dead donors is yet to be clearly defined.

According to Igor Codreanu, the population must be correctly informed about the necessity of giving their consent to taking organs from a dead relative. The transplantation is costly, but its value of over 100,000 lei is justified if taking into account the large sums spent on treatment. In Moldova there are about 500 persons who need kidney transplantation and who are on dialysis.

The meeting involves specialists from Croatia, which is the most successful country in the area of transplantation, Slovenia, France, Bulgaria, and others.