At the Tórax Hospital, President Michelle Bachelet, accompanied by the Health Minister, Álvaro Erazo, enacted the Law on Transplant and Organ Donation, a law that promotes donation and the universal requests of organs. This law establishes that every Chilean, starting from the age of 18, can decide if they want to become a donor or not. The project was approved by the Congress on December 21st after its voting at the Chamber of Deputies.

The Secretary of State expressed that this new law “shows Chilean society is progressing at a cultural level, therefore, every family should reflect upon this issue. I wish people would now familiarize with this law and the reality of many transplant requests”.

According to Erazo, this has been a tremendous challenge for the Chilean health system; currently, seven out of every million people donate their organs. The enacting of this longed-for and argued law will respond to the hopes and illusions of 1,750 people throughout Chile, who are in need of an organ and to the thousands of Chileans that in the future, will maybe need one as well. Only in 2010, 17 people have already received an organ transplant: 10 kidneys, 5 livers and 2 hearts.

The Health Minister announced the recent opening of the applications for the position of the National Coordinator of Transplants, 56 positions of doctors and nurses that will be in charge of securing organs and the implementation of 21 intra-hospital units. The coordinator’s objective is to promote the donation of organs and tissues, build up the offer of transplants, perform efficient assistance processes to avoid the loss of organs, and strengthen and create donation units.

Source: http://www.thepulse.cl/2010/01/07/president-bachelet-enacts-law-on-transplant-and-organ-donation/