A record 88 people died in 2022 while on the waiting list for organ donations in Switzerland, the German-language weekly newspaper SonntagsBlick reported. There were 72 deaths in 2021.
The outlook is grim for 2023 with 29 deaths documented between January and March. If the upward trend continues, this year could mark a new record with 116 deaths, according to the newspaper.
“This is an alarming figure,” Franz Immer, director of Swisstransplant, the national foundation for organ donation and transplantation, told SonntagsBlick.
Currently, 53 people are waiting for a new heart in Switzerland. One source of hope: cardiac surgery centres in Bern, Zurich and Lausanne have been operating new perfusion machines in recent months, giving doctors more possibilities. A donor heart continues to beat in the machine, which significantly extends the time available between the removal of the heart and the transplant operation.
In all, 570 people received an organ in 2022, and 164 deceased people donated one or more organs – slightly less than in 2021 (166 donors).
The number of people on the waiting list remained stable year-on-year. There were 1,442 persons waiting at the end of 2022, compared to 1,434 in 2021, according to the figures of the Federal Office of Public Health.
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