Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 7 September (BelTA) – Belarus has every chance of getting into the world’s top 20 transplantation countries, BelTA learned from Oleg Rummo, Head of the National Research Center for Organ and Tissue Transplantation.

Every year the World Health Organization names top 50 transplantation countries. In 2014 Belarus was ranked 28^th in the number of organ transplantations per 1 million capita. In 2016 Belarus moved to the 26^th position. “If we look at the top 20 countries, we will see that the countries, which are slightly ahead of us, beat us by roughly 0.5-1 percentage points. It means that soon Belarus will become one of the world’s top 20 transplantation countries,” said Oleg Rummo.

Belarus is ranked 7^th on the global scale that measures the number of kidney transplantations from deceased donors per 1 million capita. The total number of organ transplantations in Belarus has increased by more than 60 times since 2005. In addition to increasing the number of these most complicated surgical procedures Belarusian medics have managed to improve their quality and diversify the ways they are done.

According to last year’s data, Belarus is more than two times ahead of Germany in the development of organ donation. Belarus is ahead of the UK, Australia, and Canada. The number of organ transplantations per 1 million capita in Belarus exceeds the figure registered in Russia by five times. Belarus is the leader in the ex-USSR space. However, Belarus has a lot of work to do in order to catch up with the world’s absolute leader in this field — Spain.

According to Oleg Rummo, progress is impossible without genuine international cooperation. Belarus plays an active part in it. The first surgeries to transplant livers to adults and children in Kazakhstan and the first surgeries to transplant kidneys in Kyrgyzstan were performed by Belarusian specialists. Belarus has been cooperating with European countries and Southeast Asia countries for a long time. In particular, patients from Japan come to Belarus for most complicated high-technology surgeries. Over 50 specialists from Kazakhstan have been trained at the National Research Center for Organ and Tissue Transplantation.

An international healthcare forum is scheduled to take place in Minsk on 7-8 September. Top scientists and doctors from Belarus, specialists from Russia, Japan, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Austria, Germany, and Italy are expected to deliver their reports on the most acute problems of modern healthcare in such areas as cardiology, interventional surgery, transplantology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and so on. Panel sessions as well as a master class on echocardiography will be held as part of the forum.