The Onassis Foundation presents the future of transplantation at the 8th Delphi Economic Forum
The Onassis Foundation, furthering its long-term collaboration with the institution, participates as a Programing Partner in the 8th Delphi Economic Forum (DEF) on Thursday, April 27, organizing a discussion with the main theme of the newly passed bill on organ donation and transplantation in Greece.
Recognizing the need for a new and more effective national transplant strategy, in coordination with the State and the Hellenic Transplant Organization, the Onassis Foundation has undertaken in recent years a National Initiative aiming at the development of the highly significant sector of public health, demonstrating that Health is a matter of Culture. A component of this holistic intervention is also the commission to the London School of Economics, in collaboration with Imperial College London, of producing a research study for a National Strategic Plan for Solid Organ Donation and Transplantation in Greece. The study – unique in its kind worldwide – was submitted to the Greek State and forms the basis of the new legislative framework that was recently passed and shall be further discussed among a panel of eminent speakers at the Delphi Economic Forum on Thursday, April 27, at 10:30. You can attend the discussion by registering online.
The collaboration of the Onassis Foundation with the Delphi Economic Forum, in the framework of the awareness campaign addressed to citizens around organ donation and transplantations, is complemented by the participation of DEF as a “Golden Link” at the Organmeetings program. In this context, all visitors to this year’s Delphi Economic Forum, besides attending the discussion for the newly passed bill and the future of transplantations, may obtain free of charge the comprehensive guide compiled to answer all questions and dispel stereotypes and myths about this highly significant public health issue.
Thursday April 27, 2023 | 10:30
The Future Landscape Of Organ Donation And Transplantation In Greece: The Key Elements Of The New Bill And The Reforms It Brings Forward
- Yiouli Menoudakou, Head of Transplant Coordination Department, Hellenic Transplant Organization
- Alexandros Morellas, Health Program Manager of the Onassis Foundation
- Alexia Konstantinidou, Attorney-at-law, Legal Advisor at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center
- Aristotelis Charalampakis, Professor, School of Law, Democritus University of Thrace
- Ioannis Boletis, President, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center
Antonis Fourlis, Journalist: Chair
Programming Partner: Onassis Health
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What is the future of organ transplantation in Greece? How is the landscape that persists to this day changing, and to what extent did the National Plan of the Onassis Foundation finally lead to the new bill that has been passed in Parliament? The participants of this year’s Health panel spoke about the changing landscape of transplants in Greece, highlighting that “organ donation is not a matter that only concerns others; it is a solution and a hope for all of our lives.”
Yiouli Menoudakou, Head of the Transplant Coordination Department at the Hellenic Transplantation Organization (EOM), presented the landscape of organ donation in Greece, explaining the reasons a Greek patient has significantly fewer chances of being transplanted in time as compared to patients in other European countries. At the same time, she stressed the need for one single consistent “cross-border care,” but also "the inadequacy of the current system to convert citizens’ intention into treatment and to support the complex spatio-temporal process of organ transplantation.”
“One building alone is not enough to reverse the situation”: This is the phrase Alexandros Morellas, Health Program Manager of the Onassis Foundation, used to explain how the Onassis Foundation decided to globally adopt the field of transplants, undertaking a strategic action plan of development upon three axes: infrastructure; the change of the scientific environment; and awareness-raising. At the same time, he made reference to other innovative initiatives, including the educational program Orgamites and the awareness-raising webinars Organmeetings.
Alexia Konstantinidou, lawyer and legal advisor of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, presented the reforms of the new bill, putting the emphasis on strengthening the institutional role of the EOM. In the same discussion, Aristotelis Charalambakis, Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Democritus University of Thrace, noted that “Greece has taken decisive steps towards the modernization of the field of organ transplantation,” while he assessed the level of current legislation as very satisfactory.
Lastly, Ioannis Boletis, the President of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, closed the discussion by underlining that “the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center is its people,” while he described it as a model hospital in terms of working conditions and society’s trust in it.