Pressuring patients to decide whether or not they want to have their organs harvested could result in a drop in the number of people signing up for the procedure, medical experts have warned.

Speaking at a consultation meeting on the planned organ donation reform, kidney transplant expert Emmanuel Farrugia raised concerns that pressing patients prior to operations, or even as part of a non-medical process, could have adverse affects.

Prof. Farrugia speculated that if people were made to sign on the dotted line, the number who decided against signing up for donation would increase substantially.

His concerns were shared by Mater Dei Hospital clinical director Joseph Zarb Adami who said the current system of asking next of kin for the go-ahead was working well.

He said Malta had the second highest organ harvesting rate in Europe, and it had long been at the forefront when it came to donation rates.

Dr Zarb Adami flagged the issue during a meeting with the parliamentary committee discussing organ donation and argued that law makers should not fix what is not broken.

“I told them you have a great responsibility. Do not break what is working,” he said.

Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne allayed concerns and said the government was leaning towards retaining the current system.

Known as the Opt-in approach, the current system means that patients have to give their consent before their organs are harvested. However, the soft version of this method, currently in use, allows for doctors to consult with the relatives of those who have not given their consent to allow for organs to be taken. Mr Fearne said this was the approach favoured and the new policy would provide a legal framework for this.

He said the government was considering setting up a register of those who have consented and those who have explicitly asked for their organs not to be harvested. In the case of patients who are not on the list at all, doctors will still be able to ask relatives to allow organs to be used.

The original consultation document had proposed allowing children as young as 14 to consent to having their organs harvested. The proposal raised eyebrows among the medical community, with some arguing that children of that age were not mature enough to give a legally binding consent. Mr Fearne said the government had scrapped the idea and was likely to allow consent to be given by those aged 16 instead.

The consultation period closes next Wednesday and Mr Fearne said the policy would be translated into law by the end of the year.

The reform will be the first comprehensive legislation on organ transplants and harvesting.

Mr Fearne said the only legal documents on the phenomenon to date were a few legal notices and a law on organ smuggling.

In a position paper presented to Mr Fearne yesterday, Archbishop Charles Scicluna also put forward his support for retaining the Opt-in system.

He said the alternative system, whereby consent is assumed, could create the fear that the State was taking ownership over people’s bodies.