Spain smashes organ transplant record

SPAIN has set a new record for life-saving transplants by performing seven crucial operations in just 24 hours.

The seven recipients were in an ‘zero emergency’ state – meaning they would have died within 48 hours without a new organ.

Rafael Matesanz, director of the National Transplant Organisation (ONT), said it was the generosity of 10 families that enabled the operations to go ahead.

Three of the transplants carried out were of the heart, three were lungs and one was a liver, with one of the seven patients a child.

Last year an average of one such operation per two days was carried out in Spain, prompting Matesanz to call this new record ‘very relevant’.