Spanish Transplant Organization

The National Transplant Organization (ONT) is an institution belonging to the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumption, put in charge of developing the competencies related with provision and clinical utilization of organs, tissues and cells. It is directed by Dr. Rafael Matesanz.

After the creation of the Organización Nacional de Transplantes (ONT; National Transplant Organization) in 1989, Spain went from 14 donors per million population (pmp) to 35.1 donors pmp in 2005. That means, to change from ranking in intermediate-low positions in donation rates in Europe, to have by large the highest rate not just in Europe, but also worldwide.

To carry out these tasks, it functions as a technical operative unit that adhering to the principles of cooperation, efficacy, and solidarity, fulfils its mission of coordinating the activities of donation, extraction, preservation, distribution, exchange, and transplantation of organs, tissues and cells throughout the whole Spanish Health Care System, itself distributed along the autonomous communities of Spain.

The essential mission of the ONT is then to promote and facilitate donation and transplantation of organs, tissues, and cells. It also guarantees the more appropriate and correct distribution, according to the technical knowledge and equity principles, keynotes of all transplantation activity.