Eurotransplant

Austria stops foreigners' lung transplants, and in Vienna, it is the only hospital with which Bulgaria has an agreement for life-saving operations - up to five such procedures a year.

The Ministry of Healthcare has announced that Bulgaria joined the European FOEDUS agreement for cooperation in the sphere or organ transplantation. Currently, its active participants are 10 EU countries, BNR reported.

Most European countries are experiencing difficulties in this area, such as declining number of donors and the shortage of qualified medical staff.

Home physicians start training in Austria for lung transplantation. The training will take place in May at the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the Medical University in Vienna. It is part of the agreement on the qualification of the staff of the European Transit Organization Eurotransplant.

The Parliament tasked Minister of Health Kiril Ananiev with presenting an action plan by April 1, 2019 with concrete steps for Bulgaria to become a member of Eurotransplant. The MPs unanimously approved the proposal from BSP with 144 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions, Focus News Agency reports.

The Treaty of Bulgaria with "Eurotransplant" was canceled but will be extended to 2-3 weeks. This was announced by the Executive Director of the Transplantation Agency Mariana Stoyanova and just a day earlier the Health Ministry announced that "Bulgaria has a contract with Eurotransplant, it is not interrupted and Bulgaria continues to be a member of the organization".

A liver from a Bulgarian donor has been transported to Germany as part of the cooperation with the organization for organ exchange Eurotransplant.

The organ was transported to Germany due to the lack of appropriate recipients on Bulgaria's national transplant waiting list, according to the press office of the Health Ministry.