Czech republic ranks third globally in organ transplants
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Doctors in the Czech Republic performed 977 organ transplants in 2025, placing the country third worldwide with 51 transplants per million citizens, behind Spain and the United States.
Twenty years ago, around 550 to 600 transplants occurred annually with approximately 900 patients on the waiting list. Improvements in organ donation, including utilizing organs from donors with less-than-ideal health, have increased the number of available organs.
Waiting times for kidneys have decreased from one and a half to two years to nine to twelve months for uncomplicated recipients. The Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) in Prague has expanded the types of transplants offered, adding small intestine and uterus transplants to the existing kidney, liver, heart, lung, and pancreas procedures. They even performed the country’s first multi-visceral transplant, involving up to five organs, in 2014.
Medical advancements in immunology and genetics have allowed doctors to better predict organ rejection and tailor immunosuppressant protocols, extending the lifespan of transplanted organs. Today, 67 percent of organ donors are considered “marginal donors,” meaning they have health conditions that would have previously disqualified them. Patient survival rates have also increased significantly, 99 percent of patients and their transplanted organs survive the first year after surgery, compared to 95 to 97 percent in 1996.
This improvement is occurring even as recipients are older and have more pre-existing health conditions like diabetes and heart disease.
