In North Macedonia, there are about 200 patients on the waiting list for organs – 165 for kidneys, 30 for hearts, the rest for livers or bones.
Some patients have been waiting for decades and some never receive an organ, says Dushko Gjorgiev, president of “Nefron”, an association of kidney patients.
The country has expert medical teams, knowledge and success stories, but awareness of organ donation is still insufficient and donation from a cadaver (deceased donor) remains a challenge, patients and their associations say in testimonies to Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL).
In 2025, the families of three donors agreed to donate their organs.
In 2024 and 2023, there were two donors each.
Changes to the transplant law are also being prepared that would allow living organ donors to be first cousins. Until now, this was limited to mother, father, brother, sister, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, aunt, children and grandchildren./Telegraph/