Croatia among world leaders in organ transplants.
Croatia is the leading country in the world in the number of organ donors and the number of kidney and liver transplantations. It is in the second place in the number of heart transplants and is following all the best trends in the world in bone marrow and cornea transplantations. These fantastic results were announced at the scientific conference Transplantation in Croatia – Current Situation and Prospects for the Future, which was organized by the Institute for Clinical and Transplantation Immunology and Molecular Medicine in Rijeka headed by Daniel Rukavina, reports Novlist on February 13, 2016.
“All this is certainly a source of pride and satisfaction for us, but as scientists we know that miracles do not happen. In science and medicine, there is a sequence of events and the basis from which it all started to reach the dimensions which we can talk about today”, said Rukavina.
The organizers of the conference recalled the first successful transplant in Croatia, which took place 45 years ago in Rijeka. The Rijeka transplant program has produced a large number of experts and scientists, and as a token of gratitude members of the original transplant teams were presented with the book “Kidney Transplants in Rijeka – Historical Overview and Current Situation”. The book brings together proceedings of the Seventh Conference of the Institute for Clinical and Transplant Immunology and Molecular Medicine.
One of the recipients was Miomir Zelić who performed the first transplant of kidney and pancreas, as well as Miljenko Uravić who was also a member of the first transplant team. Special honour was given to Željko Fučkar who was a very successful manager of the Rijeka transplant program.
The conference in Rijeka was attended by transplant experts from Zagreb as well, who spoke about solid organ and cells and tissues transplants. The success of the Croatian transplant program shows that, with good organization and a lot of goodwill and effort, it is possible to achieve great medical results even with limited financial resources. One can only hope that the future of the transplant program in Croatian medical facilities will be as bright as its past has been.
