Dr. Rafael Matesanz, winner of the 2010 Principe de
Asturias Prize for International Cooperation for his work with the National
Transplant Organization (ONT) to stop international organ trafficking, gave a
conference in which he analysed the efficiency of the Spanish model of organ
transplants. Dr. Matesanz is responsible for creating the model which has taken
Spain from average or low rates of organ donation during the 1980s to the
highest donation rate in the world, with donation and transplant rates twice
the European average.

During the conference, which was attended by both
professors and students, the world-renowned kidney specialist explained that
the key to the Spanish organizational model has less to do with "awareness
campaigns and more to do with good organization among the autonomous
communities and especially with having well-trained coordinators". The
Spanish transplant coordinators are the ones responsible for identifying
possible donors and have become a point of reference for the rest of the world.

With regard to the current economic crisis,
Matesanz pointed out that the ONT system means significant savings in public
health costs. "A kidney transplant, for example, pays for itself in a year
and half, whereas the annual costs of dialysis are very high and long term”, he
said.

After the creation of the ONT, Spain went from
14 donors per million population to 34.6 per million. The ONT is a technical
operative institution belonging to the Ministry of Health and Social Policy. It
is responsible for performing functions related to the provision and clinical use
of organs, tissues and cells. The essential mission of the ONT is to promote
and facilitate altruistic donation so that any Spanish citizen needing a
transplant has a greater chance of receiving one.