BERLIN, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Organ donation in Germany is still only permitted with explicit consent by the donor, the German Bundestag decided on Thursday.
Minister of Health Jens Spahn had been seeking to list all Germans as organ donors if no objection is filed by them, but the draft law from the ministry failed to receive the necessary majority in the Bundestag, the federal parliament.
Prior to the vote, Spahn stressed that everyone was a potential organ recipient and therefore he wanted to reform the current practice of voluntary registration for organ donation. "It is an imposition, but one that saves human lives."
Instead of a fundamental reform, the Bundestag accepted the proposal by the Green Party. In the future, German citizens would receive information as a reminder to opt in at least every ten years and organ donors would be listed in a new online register.
According to the agreed draft, doctors in Germany should also play a greater role in providing regular information about organ donation. If necessary, doctors should inform patients about organ donations every two years.
Before the final discussion and vote by the Bundestag, Klaus Reinhardt, president of the German Medical Association, stressed that Spahn's draft would "send a strong signal of social solidarity."
Spahn's suggestion for automatic registration would "make people responsible about their decision for or against organ donation," said Reinhardt. "For patients on the waiting list, this makes all the difference."
The German Organ Transplantation Foundation (DSO) announced earlier this week that more than 9,000 people in the country were registered and waiting to receive an organ transplant. At the same time, the number of people who had donated organs to other patients after their death fell slightly last year to 932.
In order to increase the number of citizens registering as potential organ donors, the government has been financing advertising campaigns in print, billboards and on television for years.
The latest representative survey conducted by the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) found that only 36 percent of Germans had an organ donor card, although 84 percent said they were "rather positive" about becoming an organ donor.
