Overview:

Several successful models and strategies nowadays can serve as role model and guidance to countries attempting to increase donor rate; the “Croatian model” has recently become one of the most successful and widely recognised. Namely, over the last twelve years donor rate in Croatia has increased from 9 to 34 pmp, thus positioning Croatia among world leaders in organ transplantation and donor ship. The presentation illustrates actions taken to boost donor rate and highlight the great achievements in Croatia.

Biography:

Mirela Bušic was appointed as the National Transplant Coordinator in 2002 to provide Senior leadership and coordinated national efforts in development of self sufficient organ donation and transplantation system  in Croatia. 

As medical doctor, specialised in epidemiology she has been working for last 12 years in the Ministry of Health, managing the Institute for Transplantation and Biomedicine, i.e. Competent Authority for Organ, Tisses and Cells.  In that period she sucesfully implemented a set of measures that enabled a sustained and continuous increase in deceased organ donations and transplantations.  She played one of the key-role in the process of preparation for Eurotransplant membership (2006) and EU membership, in the field of organs, tissues and cells.

In 2011 she was appointed as Director of the Regional Health Development Center on Organ Donation and Transplantation Medicine (RHDC), designated to promote and assist development of deceased organ donation and transplant medicine in the South-East European countries.  She is a representative of the Council of Europe Committee (Partial Agreement) on organ transplantation (CD-P-TO) and  Member of Eurotransplant International Foundation Board.