Action Plan for strengthened cooperation
between Member States
32. The motivation for the Commission's suggested
action plan for strengthened cooperation between Member States
is its perception that this would be a positive way of improving
the supply of available donor organs across the EU. The Commission
observes in its Communication[10]
that organ donation rates vary widely between different EU Member
States for reasons which cannot easily be explained.
33. The Commission concludes from this that some
of the national models used to organise organ donation and transplantation
services perform better than others in generating a supply of
donor organs. It suggests, therefore, that sharing expertise between
Member States would help the Community as a whole to "identify
the best of the models and support its application throughout
the EU, while respecting cultural and organisational diversity."
34. The Commission envisages that this cooperation
between Member States would be based on the identification and
development of common objectives, agreed quantitative and qualitative
indicators and benchmarks, regular reporting, and the identification
and sharing of best practices.
35. The Communication highlights three areas
in which such action could be beneficial: increasing the availability
of donor organs; raising public awareness of organ donation and
transplantation issues; and improving the effectiveness of organ
donation and transplantation services.
36. In relation to the availability of donor
organs, the Commission points out that, in some Member States,
many potential donors are lost because taking organs for transplantation
is never seriously considered by the medical staff responsible
for the patient. As a result, the option of donation is never
presented to the patient's relatives, and no evaluation is made
of the suitability of the patient's organs for donation. Sharing
information about how to raise the profile of organ donation in
the medical context would address the problem.
37. The Communication suggests that public awareness
should be raised by improving the knowledge of both health professionals
and the media of transplantation issues. People should be encouraged
to talk about organ donation within their families and to ensure
that their relatives are aware of their wishes about organ donation.
According to the Commission, the evidence shows that the members
of families who have discussed these issues among themselves tend
to be more likely to be willing to donate organs.
38. The Communication goes on to suggest that
the creation of a European organ donor card, indicating the willingness
of the holder to donate organs, would be a positive factor in
raising public awareness and in raising organ donation rates.
39. Health service systems differ widely between
Member States, the Commission comments, as a result of their different
origins and history. However, even among those countries which
have well-developed systems, there are wide differences in the
ways they organise organ donation and transplantation services.
The organisational models adopted in some Member States seem to
stand out for their success in achieving high rates of organ donation
and successful transplantation.
40. The Communication comments that the most
effective organisational approach appears to be to combine a decentralised
network, formed by local organisations which have the roles of
promoting organ donation and of procuring donor organs, with a
centralised organisation which focuses on ensuring cooperation
between local areas in sharing organs and on other matters. Again
the sharing of information, about how such models achieve relative
success, would be beneficial across the EU.
41. We heard evidence indicating that the Commission's
ideas for an action plan for information sharing were widely accepted.
The European Parliament's resolution[11]
on organ donation and transplantation looks forward to the Commission's
action plan, stating that the Parliament "strongly believes
that there is significant potential for sharing expertise between
Member States in order to increase donor rates and equalise access
to transplantation across the EU".
42. Support for the concept of an action plan
from the Council of Ministers also seems likely. Ann Keen MP,
the responsible UK Minister, told us, "I believe that we
can learn from each other" and added, "looking at best
practice and promoting that is also something that I believe we
are very keen to follow and to do" (Q 471).
43. A more detailed account of the evidence we
received in relation to the Commission's proposals for an action
plan on organ donation and transplantation is given in chapter
5.
Combating organ trafficking
44. In relation to the issue of combating organ
trafficking, the Commission refers to Article 3 of the EU Charter
of Fundamental Rights[12]
(which states that everyone has the right to respect for his or
her physical integrity) and to a range of existing international
legal instruments which ban trafficking in human organs and tissues.
The Commission states that it bases its actions on these important
international instruments and that it will closely monitor any
developments in the organ trafficking field both within the EU
and worldwide.
45. Few of the witnesses for our inquiry saw
the issue of organ trafficking as a serious problem within the
EU. In fact, Dr. Eduardo Fernandez-Zincke, Medical Officer in
the European Commission's Directorate of Public Health and Risk
Assessment, told us that the cases of this which had been reported
in the EU were rare (Q 22).
46. Dr Adamos Adamou MEP, rapporteur to
the European Parliament's Committee that produced the resolution
on organ donation, however, did regard this as a problem that
the EU should not underestimate. His view was that, in large part,
trafficking arose as a result of poverty and deprivation in countries
outside the EU, but that the demand for trafficked organs resulted
from the shortage of donor organs in both EU countries and elsewhere.
47. Further evidence that we received in relation
to organ trafficking and the related phenomenon of "transplant
tourism" is reported in chapter 5.
7 op. cit. Back
8
European Parliament resolution of 22 April 2008 on organ donation
and transplantation: policy actions at EU level-see
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+TA+20080422+SIT+DOC+WORD+V0//EN&language=EN Back
9
op. cit. Back
10
op. cit. Back
11
op. cit. Back
12
Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union (2000/c 364/01)
Official Journal of the European Communities, 18.12.2000 Back
