According to the statement, the cumulative total of 13,000 organ transplants in Hungary includes:
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10,251 kidney transplants, 921 of which involved living donors
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1,456 liver transplants, three from living donors
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903 heart transplants
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228 pancreas transplants, performed either in combination with kidneys, individually, or as islet cell transplants
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162 lung transplants
Experts at the OVSZ emphasized that the numbers reflect a deep and growing expertise in transplant medicine in Hungary. Notably, while it took 30 years to complete the first 1,000 transplants, the latest 1,000 procedures occurred in less than two and a half years, underscoring the rapid evolution and capacity of Hungary’s transplant programs.
The statement also recounted key milestones in the country’s transplant history. Hungary’s first human organ transplant — a living-donor kidney transplant — was performed by Dr. András Németh in Szeged in 1962.
The country’s first structured kidney transplant program was launched in 1973, at the first Department of Surgery at Semmelweis University under the leadership of Dr. Ferenc Perner. Over the following decades, transplant units were established all over the country in Szeged (1979), Debrecen (1991), and Pécs (1993).
Hungary’s first heart transplant was performed in 1992, by Professor Zoltán Szabó at Semmelweis University’s Department of Vascular and Cardiac Surgery.
The most recent addition to the country’s transplant capabilities is lung transplantation, available since December 2015, at the National Institute of Oncology’s Thoracic Surgery Center. The first procedure was performed by Dr. György Lang and Dr. Ferenc Rényi-Vámos.
The OVSZ highlighted that Hungary’s transplant programs now operate with international-level standards and continue to evolve — saving lives and expanding possibilities for patients with organ failure.