Meeting with Russian Ministry of Health

At the invitation of Russian colleagues, professor of surgery Francis L. Delmonico, then President of The Transplantation Society (TTS), visited the Moscow Institute of Transplantation in June 2014. The invitation was made to consult and exchange experience in the organization of the national system of organ donation and transplantation.

At the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Prof. Delmonico was received by the Minister of Health, Veronika Skvortsova. Also present at the meeting was Deputy Minister, Tatyana Yakovleva and Deputy Minister, Dmitry Kostennikov. Minister Skvortsova expressed gratitude to TTS and personally to Prof. Delmonico for fruitful cooperation and the promotion of organ donation and transplantation in Russia. Prof. Delmonico then participated in a business meeting with the developers of the new law on donation of human organs and transplantation. During the discussion, the participants reaffirmed the commonality of views on the goals and objectives of the national legislation, which is to promote organ donation and transplantation in the country in accordance with the needs of the population in organ transplantation and donor resources.

The next day, Prof. Delmonico visited academician V.I. Shumakov Federal Research Center of Transplantology and Artificial Organs. Prof. Sergey Gautier, Chairman of the Russian Transplant Society, and member of the Declaration of Istanbul Group, heads the Center. The Center is the leading medical and scientific organization in Russia in the field of transplantation and biomedical technologies. More than 300 organ transplantations are performed annually at the Center; in 2013, 101 heart transplants, 90 liver transplants and 112 kidney transplants were carried out there. The Center also prepares medical and scientific personnel to work in the field of transplantation for the whole country.

Following the visit, Prof. Delmonico personally thanked Prof. Gautier and his colleagues for the warm welcome, and wished them much success; furthermore, on behalf of The Transplantation Society Prof. Delmonico expressed interest in continued future cooperation.