James Warren
SPAIN’s high speed train operator RENFE has agreed to renew a deal with the Organ Transplant Association (ONT) to provide rapid transport solutions for life saving organs.
The agreement to extend the scheme was made in a meeting this week between ONT chairwoman Beatriz Domínguez-Gil and RENFE boss Isaias Taboas.
It has been coined as the Cross-Over Kidney Transplant Program and was implemented back in 2015 to create a fast and reliable method of transporting live kidney’s between hospitals to be used in transplant operations.
“Since the agreement was signed six years ago, we have transported over 200 kidney’s to be used in various operations” explained Taboas.
According to ONT figures, just in 2020, 19 operations were carried out with the help of the Crossover Program.
“The relationship between ourselves and RENFE has been a valuable method of transporting organs across the country, even Portugal, and delivered in perfect condition to potentially save a person’s life.” said Domínguez-Gil.
So far, 25 hospitals from 12 autonomous communities have signed up for the scheme including the Canary Islands, along with 18 compatibility laboratories.
The organisations have praised the scheme and its ability to be able to reliably co-ordinate operations in different hospitals to ensure that the organ is out of the body for the minimal time possible.
