An agreement for lung transplants on Maltese patients to be carried out in Palermo was signed this evening between the government and the Istituto Mediterraneo per i Trapianti e Terapie ad Alta Specializzazione.

Lung transplants are not a common procedure since they are only used as a last resort when the patient's lung cannot be treated in any other way.

Maltese patients who required such a transplant had, to date, to go to live in the UK, to wait for months, sometimes years.

For a lung transplant to be carried out, there had to be a match in blood type and the organ had to fit the recipient's chest cavity.

Through this agreement, patients would face less hardship because of the shorter distance, which also made follow-up much easier.

The most common causes for the transplant were ones that restricted the flow of air into the lungs.

A lung transplant costs around €140,000, excluding flights, accommodation and transport. All costs are covered by the government

In the last 11 years, 303 organ transplants were done locally including 160 cornea transplants and 126 kidney transplants.

Over the past three years the government sent 906 patients abroad for specialised treatment.