Brussels, 09/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 9 October the European Commission adopted implementing measures for Directive 2010/53EU on quality and safety standards for human transplantation organs. In 2011 around 30,000 organs were transplanted in the EU and several of them were transplanted in different member states from those in which they were taken. It was therefore essential to ensure traceability of the organs to guarantee patient safety, the Commission says.
The objective of the implementing directive is to facilitate the exchange of information on the characterisation of the organ and the donor (for example, type of organ, and donor's age, sex and medical history), the transmission of information needed to ensure the traceability of organs (in respect of the rules in force on data protection) and to ensure the notification of any incident or serious adverse reaction so as to help doctors adopt appropriate measures in case of need. In particular, the directive obliges national authorities to exchange and to store information on cross-border organ exchanges and to make sure that competent staff are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for emergency situations, so that medical teams can take appropriate and timely action to ensure the safety of patients. (IL/transl.fl)