Health: Almost 100,000 entries in new register on organ donations

Four weeks after its launch, almost 100,000 people have registered in the new central online register for organ donations. 97,858 declarations have now been submitted, as the operator, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, announced upon request. The portal www.organspende-register.de went online on March 18th. There, users aged 16 and over can document whether or not they are willing to donate organs after death.

You can first register by using an ID card with an online function. The information is voluntary, free of charge and can be changed or deleted at any time. Declarations on paper, for example in organ donor cards, are still possible. Clinics that remove organs should be able to search and access saved declarations from July 1st. By September 30th, it should be possible to enter digital declarations directly via health insurance apps.

8,400 people on transplant waiting list

The register is the core of a law passed by the Bundestag in 2020, which also aims to provide easier options for documenting a decision about willingness to donate. The background is efforts to increase life-saving organ donations. Last year, 965 people donated one or more organs after their death. That was 96 more than after a sharp slump in 2022, as the coordinating German Organ Transplantation Foundation reported. At the same time, almost 8,400 people were on the waiting lists for a transplant.

When entering the online register you can choose from five options:

Yes, I allow organs and tissues to be removed from my body after my death has been medically confirmed; Yes, I allow this, with the exception of the following organs/tissues; Yes, I allow this, but I would only like to release certain organs/tissues for donation ;The following person should then decide whether or not;No, I object to the removal of organs or tissues.