Serbia introduces a new donor card

On National Donor Day, 6 June, Serbia is introducing a new donor card as part of efforts to save the lives of as many people as possible for whom organ transplantation is the only option.

The introduction of the new donor card follows the adoption by the Government of Serbia of amendments to the Law on the Transplantation of Human Organs. The new provisions precisely regulate all important issues that citizens face when deciding whether or not they wish to be donors of organs and tissues.

Ivana Stašević Karličić, State Secretary in the Ministry of Health, stated that the Government has adopted legal solutions that allow everyone, during their lifetime, to declare whether they wish or do not wish to donate their organs after death and, in line with that decision, to be entered in the Register of Donors, or in the Register of Persons Opposed to Organ Donation.

“These solutions provide citizens with greater legal certainty and give the health system a clearer framework for action. This is particularly important in an area where public trust determines whether more people will get a chance at life. We are on the right track, as the number of people on the waiting list fell from 1,700 to 1,228 during 2025 and 2026. That number must be reduced further. Increasing the number of actual donors and performed transplants year after year is our goal, and we will not deviate from it, because it is our responsibility and obligation towards all those for whom organ transplantation is the only chance for recovery. It is a responsibility of the health system, institutions and society as a whole, and a goal to which we must remain committed,” said State Secretary Prof. Dr Ivana Stašević Karličić, calling on members of the Serbian Parliament to support the amendments to the Law on the Transplantation of Human Organs.

Ten years of the campaign “The Most Important Call in Life” have shown that major social changes do not happen by themselves. They require trust, perseverance and partnership between the state, the health system, patients, families and companies that understand their responsibility towards the community, said Ronald Zeliger, General Manager of the Hemofarm Group.

“As a company that has been caring for people’s health for more than six decades, we believe that organ donation is a matter of responsibility and humanity. It is a decision through which a society shows how willing it is to care about the life of every person. As an individual, I deeply believe that each of us can contribute to creating a better society, and as someone who has already signed a donor card in Germany, I allow myself to call on others to do the same,” said Zeliger.

National Donor Day was established as part of the campaign “The Most Important Call in Life”, launched in 2016 by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia, the Hemofarm Group and the Hemofarm Foundation together with patient associations, with the aim of increasing the number of donors and transplants, adopting legislation regulating this area and securing Serbia’s membership in the Eurotransplant organization. Ten years later, the number of donors and transplants has increased and the legal framework has been adopted, but Serbia is still at the bottom globally in terms of the number of transplants performed. The most important call, filled with uncertainty, is still waiting for 1,228 people.

According to data from the Directorate for Biomedicine of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia, from the beginning of the year to date, transplantation has been performed in 71 patients.