The number of organs harvested from dead donors in Slovenia exceeds the Eurotransplant average by 36%, said Avsec Letonja. Eurotransplant is a foundation coordinating organ transplants in seven countries: Austria, Croatia, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Slovenia.

Avsec Letoja said that 88% of kidneys harvested in Slovenia come from donors who passed away after a stroke, the rest comes from the patient's living relatives.

Avsec Letonja talked to the press two weeks after the Ljubljana UKC hospital performed the 1000th kidney transplant. The first transplant involving a live donor was performed in 1970, while the first transplant of a kidney from a dead donor was carried out in 1986.

Statistics show that 70% of Slovenians support organ donation, said Avsec Letonja, who added however that the number of relatives who turn down the possibility of donation has increased - the most common reason being that they do not know whether the relative would have wanted their organs removed after they died.

Miha Arnol of the kidney transplant centre at Ljubljana UKC said that last year alone 62 kidney transplants were performed, which was the most so far. This year as many as 25 transplants have already been performed.

On average, patients have to wait less than a year for a new kidney, said Arnol, adding that the number of donated kidneys exceeds the number of patients waiting for a new kidney.

Arnol moreover said that survival rates for kidney transplant patients are very high due to careful guidance of patients before and after the transplantation. Valentin Sojar of UKC Ljubljana moreover said that a kidney transplant is 33% cheaper than a dialysis treatment.