Spain leads global organ donation for 25 years: expert

BARCELONA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Spain has led over the last 25 years organ donation in the world, with 43.4 individual donors per million people in 2016, Dr. Chloe Balleste, international development director at the Donation and Transplantation Institute (DTI), told Xinhua in an interview.

"Spain leads thanks to the professionalization of the activity," she explained.

According to the Spanish Ministry of Health, in 2016 a total of 4,818 organ transplants were carried out with a total of 2,018 donors.

Organ donations depend on society and need citizen involvement. "In Spain, we started with the professionals. If we do not have a culture of donation within hospital, we will not be able to raise awareness among our societies," Balleste said.

Her comments came on the sidelines of an event hosting 20 Chinese professors and doctors with the aim of exchanging ideas and receiving training and information.

The visit is part of the Knowledge Transfer and Leadership in Organ Donation from Europe to China (KeTLOD), which aims to create a postgraduate course on organ donation in seven Chinese universities.

The project is co-funded by the European Commission, European partners and Chinese universities.

Specialists from three universities in France, Italy and Spain will offer training in accordance with Eurropean guidelines.