Falcon transports 21 organs and antidote since 2015

Use of government's aircraft has been on the increase – mostly for organ transport

The most frequently transported organ is the heart. Liver is also a common transplant sent from other European countries. Foto: MMC RTV SLO

The use of the government-owned aircraft called Falcon has been on the increase in recent years, especially for the purpose of organ transport for Slovenija Transplant.

The contract with Slovenija Transplant was signed in March 2015. Since then, the emergency services have transported 21 organs for transplantation and one antidote with the Falcon. The most frequently transported organ is the heart. Liver is also a common transplant sent from other European countries. Namely, Slovenia is part of an international organisation called Eurotransplant, which coordinates and organises organ exchange between transplant centres in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia.

Top results in organ transplantation
Transplantation is a very successful method of treatment after final organ failure in Slovenia. For five years now in a row, Slovenia rates as the world’s first in the number of heart transplants per capita, and has been achieving top results, explains the head of the Transplantation Centre in UMC Ljubljana Ivan Kneževič.

The centre performs between 110 and 120 transplantations per year, adds Kneževič, noting that 31 hearts were transplanted in 2016, out of which 24 came from Eurotransplant's exchange programme. For next year Ljubljana is also preparing to start transplanting lungs, for which quick transport is of utmost importance. In other cases, organs are typically brought in with commercial flights or road transport, as this is much cheaper.

Transport with Falcon is crucial
In some cases, however, quick transport is crucial, and this is where the Falcon comes in. “Our cooperation with the Slovenian Army [t/n: which flies the Falcon] is of key importance here. Due to their help, our team can then successfully transplant healthy organs, so we’re saving lives together,” emphasizes Danica Avsec, head of the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for the Transplantation of Organs and Tissues.

“Although we have the highest number of transplants per capita, that’s still not enough. When we look back at the end of the year, we conclude that three or four people still did not get an organ, which is why we constantly try to do better,” argues Kneževič. The most pressing problem is a lack of organs. Slovenians are below average in the number of organ donors per capita.

T. K. B., MMC; translated by K. Z.