Nine people have contacted Mater Dei Hospital’s renal unit in the past month to donate a kidney to any stranger in need, in a collective gesture that marks “an all-time record in Maltese transplant history”.
Seven of these Samaritan donors have already been reviewed by kidney specialists and will soon be referred to the unit’s psychologist to ensure they are truly ready to part with a kidney, a Health Ministry spokesman said.
Transplant Support Group vice president James Muscat said this was “more than special” news.
To date there has only been one Samaritan donation – which involves a living person giving a kidney to a complete stranger – he said. This took place last year. About 250 people are undergoing treatment at the renal unit and 70 are awaiting a transplant.
The nine potential donors have come forward since March 12 when the hospital urged people interested in donating a kidney to approach the renal unit.
The call was made following an ethical controversy sparked over organ donation last month. Sarah Borg had posted an online advert offering financial compensation for a kidney for Chris Bartolo, 30, the father of her 10-year-old son Zac.
She offered €5,000 to the donor to cover medical and other expenses incurred, stressing she was not trying to buy an organ.
About 20 people came forward to donate an organ to Mr Bartolo, who suffered double kidney failure a year ago. People were touched by the story that was reported in various media.
Ms Borg spoke about how she had known Mr Bartolo since she was a teenager. The two were a couple for six years and had a son. Although they are no longer together, and both are in different relationships, they remain close friends.
Mr Bartolo also has a 10-month-old son, Daniel, with his girlfriend, Anna Galea, who was supportive of Ms Borg’s efforts. The women joined forces to find a kidney for the father of their children.
The Live Organ Transplant Advisory Committee had held an urgent meeting to decide whether to allow the donors for Mr Bartolo to be processed – given the element of financial compensation.
It decided this would go against the principle of “distributive justice” adopted when anonymous people, who are complete strangers to the patient, offer to be donors. The committee said the donors could, however, contact the hospital to start the process to donate their kidney, which would go to whoever needed it most.
The committee did not want to condone advertising for organ donation.
Ms Borg had said she was determined to keep fighting to promote organ donation. She encouraged the donors who offered to give their kidney to Mr Bartolo to go ahead and donate.
It is not clear whether the nine donors who contacted the renal unit are among the 20 who came forward after Ms Borg’s advert.
“In order to respect data protection laws, I can’t give details on specific persons. Therefore I can’t confirm if the persons... were the ones who originally wanted to donate to Mr Bartolo,” the ministry spokesman said.