Although the Parliament adopted a law in 2019 that provides for the collection of donor cards, few MPs publicly support organ donation.
Only MPs from four parliamentary groups responded to "Vijesti" that they support the campaign "Signature for Life! Donor Card - the Card with the Highest Value", which was recently launched by the Ministry of Health with the aim of raising awareness about donation.
President of the Civic Movement URA parliamentary group, MP Milos Konatar, told "Vijesti" that he absolutely supports the campaign and that he will take a donor card because he believes that it is the least we can do to help someone and save a life.
"Organ donation is the most humane thing you can do to save someone's life. People who, for example, donate a kidney during their lifetime and continue to live with one kidney are rightly mentioned as positive examples. Such people deserve special respect because in this way they save someone's life. It is even easier with donor cards, when a person definitely no longer needs the organ and can help someone extend their life. That is the least we can do," said Konatar.
Member of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Jevto Erakovic He told "Vijesti" that the party always supports all progressive projects, and the campaign is one of them.
"As a doctor and member of the first transplant team in Montenegro, I fully support this project and I am sure that the same will be true of the majority of our MPs," Eraković emphasized.
He also assessed that the transplantation program has been in complete stagnation for five years.
"A lot of time has been lost, we have gone back a decade and it is time to at least make some progress and move forward," said Eraković.
Among the few MPs who have publicly announced that they have already signed the donor card is Eraković's colleague, a DPS MP. Nikola Rakočević.
And the president of the Social Democrats of Montenegro club Boris Mugoša He replied that he supported the campaign and would pick up a donor card from the chosen doctor.
Member of the Croatian Civic Initiative Adrian Vuksanovic He told "Vijesti" that he decided to take out a donor card and send a clear message - that every life is worth living, and every donor can be someone's hope.
"We still have a lot to do to bring the importance of the transplant program closer to citizens and encourage them to do this noble act. I fully support all initiatives that contribute to this mission, and I especially praise the valuable media campaigns that raise awareness and inform the public. Organ donation is one of the highest forms of humanity. It is important that our society becomes an environment that recognizes and encourages this kind of selflessness," said Vuksanović. He reminded that a large number of people are waiting for organ transplantation in Montenegro - including children.
"This is a call for responsibility and solidarity that we must not ignore," Vuksanović emphasized.
There are 94 adult patients waiting for organ transplants in Montenegro. There are 64 people waiting for kidney transplants, 13 each for liver and lung transplants, while four patients are on the list for heart transplants. There are also four children on the list for organ transplants - three waiting for a kidney and one waiting for a heart.
After five years, at the beginning of this year, the Clinical Center of Montenegro (KCCG), thanks to cooperation with the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, resumed kidney transplants from living donors. However, not all patients have the opportunity to receive an organ from a living donor, but rather need a transplant from a brain-dead (cadaveric) organ donor.
Only two cadaveric transplants, i.e. organ transplants from brain-dead individuals, have been performed in Montenegro so far.
The first was performed in December 2013, when three lives were saved. The second cadaveric transplant was performed in September 2018, when the explantation of the heart, lungs, liver and two kidneys was performed at the KCCG. Two kidneys were received by patients who had been on hemodialysis for years, while the remaining organs were sent abroad, so that Montenegro could continue its membership in Eurotransplant through Croatia.
Head of the Transplantation Directorate of the Directorate for Public Health and Biomedicine of the Ministry of Health Sandra Damjanovic previously explained the procedure for obtaining a donor card - any person who wants to be a donor can contact their chosen doctor and sign a written consent for organ donation in the event of death. After that, they are issued a donor card.
This, says Damjanović, can be revoked at any time by submitting a Statement of Revocation of Written Consent for Organ Harvesting in the Event of Death, after which the donor card is returned and a note is made.
In the event that a person wishes to declare that he does not expressly wish to be a donor, he is issued a Statement of Objection to Organ Donation, which he can also revoke - by submitting a Statement of Revocation of the Statement of Objection to Organ Donation.
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