Remember the importance of organ donation in saving lives!
On the occasion of World Organ Donor Day, celebrated every year on 17 October, the Ministry of Health and the Luxembourg Transplant association, the official body for managing donations and transplants in Luxembourg, are renewing their efforts to raise awareness of organ donation.
To support this cause, Luxexpo The Box hosted the 14th Spinning Marathon on 8 October. This sporting and charitable event brought together a large number of sportsmen and women with the aim of raising public awareness of the crucial role played by organ donors in our society.
For a number of serious illnesses, organ transplantation remains the only means of treatment to ensure patients’ survival. For others, an organ transplant offers the possibility of regaining a quality of life that is less dependent on the equipment that supports their failing organs.
It is therefore essential that Luxembourg contributes to organ donation so that Luxembourg residents can benefit from transplants.
Without organ donation, there can be no transplants!
Even though organ procurement and transplantation activities are recovering worldwide, the negative impact of COVID-19 will remain for some time. In Luxembourg, 8 people donated their organs in 2022 (compared with only 2 in 2021). As a result, 38 organs from Luxembourg were successfully transplanted by centres in the Eurotransplant network (European network for the management of organ procurement and transplantation). 105 patients (+15 compared with 2020) were registered on the national pre-transplant list awaiting transplantation in a foreign centre. 55 new patients were added to the list during the year and 1 patient on the list died in 2022. In 2022, 35 residents of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg received transplants in foreign centres.
Order your passport of life
In Luxembourg, any deceased person is potentially considered an organ donor. Subscribing to the « passport of life », Luxembourg’s organ donor card, facilitates the work of doctors and spares the family from having to make difficult decisions.
Download your donor card using the « passport of life » application available on iPhone and Android, or on sante.lu.
Further information on organ donation is also available at http://www.luxtransplant.lu/.
The slogan for 2023 World Blood Donor Day campaign, celebrated on 14 June 2023, is “Give blood, give plasma, share life, share often.” It focuses on patients requiring life-long transfusion support and underlines the role every single person can play, by giving the valuable gift of blood or plasma. It also highlights the importance of giving blood or plasma regularly to create a safe and sustainable supply of blood and blood products that can be always available, all over the world, so that all patients in need can receive timely treatment.