Malaga’s regional hospital is one of the leaders in liver transplants in Spain

Friday, 31 January 2025
Just a few days after being titled first in Spain in the number of kidney transplants, the regional hospital in Malaga has been announced second in liver transplants after the Hospital de la Fe in Valencia. Total figures were made public in the regional minister’s report a fortnight ago, the position of the Hospital Regional Universitario had not been established yet. While being second in Spain, Malaga’s hospital is first for Andalucía.
The news was announced this Tuesday 28 January, by the delegate of the Junta de Andalucía in Malaga, Patricia Navarro, who stated that the number of liver transplants done in 2024 in Malaga grew by 26.8%, compared to the figure in 2023. According to Andalucía’s administration, this has been possible thanks to the consolidation of the asystole donation programme, which has accounted for 53% of donations, compared to transplants from brain-dead donors (43%).
Currently, there are only eight people on the waiting list for liver transplant surgery. “We cannot really refer to it as a waiting list, as there are eight people waiting for a donor, who will be ready for a surgery as soon as a liver is available,” stated Navarro. Last year, 79 patients were on the waiting list for a liver transplant, with each person waiting for an average of one month.
The first liver transplant at the regional hospital was performed 28 years ago and, since then, there have been 1,366 liver transplants. In addition, this is the hospitral that treats liver-transplant patients from all over the province of Malaga, Almería, Ceuta and Melilla. The first indication for needing a liver transplant is alcohol-related liver cirrhosis, which accounts for 39% of cases.
Navarro says the Junta is working on the specifications for the Pascual hospital
It has been almost three years since the Hospital Pascual should have been opened and managed by the Andalusian Health Service (SAS), if we judge by the promise that had been made by the president of the Junta, Juanma Moreno. No progress has been made so far. Every question about process or deadline has been met with silence. Despite not specifying a date, Patricia Navarro has given an update. In response to questions from the press, she said: “The Junta de Andalucía is already working on the tendering process for the Pascual Hospital, aiming to provide it with new healthcare services.”
On the other hand, she said that the latest data at Andalusian level show that the surgical waiting list outside the deadline has been reduced by 44.09% at the end of 2024, while the surgical waiting list within the deadline has decreased by 12.69%. “Thanks to the efforts and sacrifice of the management teams of our hospitals, a total of 400,000 operations have been carried out in Andalucía in 2024, compared to the 341,000 that were initially planned. We exceeded all forecasts thanks to the work of our professionals,” Navarro stated.
“This rate of patients requiring a transplant shows us that we must stimulate people to take care of certain unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as obesity or alcohol, which can lead to conditions requiring such operations,” said Navarro, emphasising the need to continue working on improving healthy lifestyle habits, particularly among younger populations, in addition to referring them to health professionals.
Record
According to health sources from a few days ago, in addition to being second in liver transplants, the regional hospital of Malaga is the one that performs the highest number kidney transplants across the country. As the official data from the regional health ministry indicated, the Hospital Regional Universitario carried out 337 transplants last year – almost one a day – which is 20% more than in 2023. Of these, 85 were liver transplants, 10 pancreas transplants and 242 kidney transplants.
For a transplant to take place, there must first be a donation. In this case, the rate is measured in number of donors per million people. In Europe, this rate is around 20 people per million, while in Spain it is just under 48. Andalucía and Malaga are once again leaders. The donation rate in the province is 59.9, reaching a record of 106 organ donors, the highest provincial contribution to the Andalusian total.
In addition to the historic regional figure, Andalucía continues to break its own record of organ transplants. In 2024, Andalusian hospitals performed 18% more transplants than in 2023, rising from 1,034 to a total of 1,222, making it the highest number of transplants performed in a single year. In addition, last year also saw 12.24% more donors than in 2023, with 495 organ donors in 2024, compared to 441 in 2023, and 362 tissue donors compared to the previous 281.
link