Overview
- The government's revision of the Transplantation Act received its first reading on 30 January, proposing legal cross‑pair and chain kidney donations as well as anonymous altruistic donors.
- A central registry and formal matching mechanism would link incompatible donor–recipient pairs and replace the current patchwork operating in a legal gray zone.
- Current law largely restricts living donations to closely connected people, forcing swap pairs to demonstrate personal relationships to satisfy ethics committees.
- Experts welcome a likely increase in transplants but call for independent counselling, stronger safeguards, and explicit logistics for failures or withdrawals in donation chains.
- The shortage remains severe, with 253 people reported to have died in 2024 while awaiting a kidney; Die Zeit reports approval in subsequent readings is considered very likely.