With 60 donors last year, or 13 per million inhabitants, Croatia came close to the European average of 16.5 donors per million inhabitants, standing side by side with larger and much richer European countries.
By comparison, Sweden has 12.8 donors per million inhabitants, Germany 13.8 and Switzerland 13.2, the head of the Pula-based Croatian Donor Network, Igor Povrzanovic, told Hina in an interview last week in connection with the launch of a public campaign for the promotion of bone marrow transplantation from living unrelated donors.
The Croatian Donor Network was established eight years ago in this northern Adriatic resort town, and has so far only promoted post-mortem organ donation for transplantation purposes.
"The attention of the Croatian public has not been sufficiently drawn to the need for bone marrow donation, so it is no surprise that the number of bone marrow transplantations does not follow the increase in the number of organ transplantations, for instance kidney transplantations," Povrzanovic said, adding that 113 kidneys and 43 livers were transplanted in Croatia last year.
There is great demand for bone marrow transplantation in Croatia, with hundreds of patients on waiting lists, including a large number of children.
Povrzanovic said that bone marrow transplantation was a routine method of treatment of malignant blood diseases, such as acute and chronic leukemia and lymphoma, as well as diseases caused by bone marrow failures, serious immune system disorders, congenital anaemia and some metabolic diseases.