Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne believes that relatives of people who decide they want to donate their organs should not be able to overturn this decision when the person dies.

Similarly, if a person decides not to donate their organs, that decision should be respected. However, he said, he believed that if a person who died never expressed his or her views on the matter then the relatives should be able to take the decision.

Mr Fearne stressed that these were his personal views and did not necessarily mean the law on organ donation will legislate in this direction given that the issue was open for public consultation.

At the moment Malta has an unregulated system where people can choose whether they want to donate their organs when they die. But this decision is not set in stone as relatives have the final say.

"Personally I think we should keep this hybrid system. But I also believe in respecting the will of the donor. I believe in a soft opt-out system. The majority of relatives say yes and I believe in the altruism of the Maltese people,” he said.

He was speaking during a discussion session on the university campus organised as part of the public consultation process into the White Paper on organ donation that is open until May 20.

The White Paper lists various options that include opt-in or opt-out system that can be soft (flexible to change) or hard (set in stone).

MP Deborah Schembri cautioned that a hard opt-out system – that assumed that all people were donors unless they opted out – could backfire. Research had shown that people did not like being imposed upon and this could result in many opting out.

Few students were present during the discussion with none asking questions to members of the discussion panel that included MP Etienne Grech, Patricia Galea and student Thomas Bajada - who were involved in drafting the White Paper.