Organ ads now illegal

A legal notice has made it illegal to advertise the availability or the need for organs with a view to offering or making financial gain.

Donations of organs from deceased and living donors “shall be voluntary and unpaid”. However, living donors can still receive compensation as long as it is strictly limited “to making good the expenses and loss of income related to the donation”.

The authority responsible for transplants shall define the conditions where compensation may be granted, while avoiding any financial incentives or benefit for a potential donor.

The move comes after a woman earlier this year posted an advert on the online shopping site, Malta Park, asking for a kidney for her former partner who was also the father of her 10-year-old son.