Europe’s Largest Organ Transplant Center is in Prague

Prague’s Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) is the largest transplant center in Europe, transplanting 540 organs to 486 patients in 2019 and carrying out roughly 70% of all transplants in the Czech Republic.

IKEM focuses on the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, organ transplants, diabetology, and metabolic disorders,

According to Ondřej Viklický, the head of the IKEM Transplant Center, neither the largest center in the United Kingdom located in Birmingham nor the other centers in Northern Europe or the surrounding countries are achieving results as positive as those at IKEM.

Last year’s number of operations was achieved due to a record increase in the number of deceased donors. There were 288 Czech donors with organs from 155 of them being used in IKEM.

In the Czech Republic, the law requires consent to donate organs either by the donor or the donor’s family.

Other transplant clinics are in university hospitals in Prague’s Motol Hospital, in Brno, Hradec Králové, Plzen, Ostrava, and Olomouc.

What is IKEM?

The largest Czech medical research and clinical hospital managed directly by the Ministry of Health which was established in 1971.

The Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) is made up of 3 specialist centers, 8 departments, 15 specialist departments, work bases and laboratories, and 1450 members of staff. There are a total of 312 beds available, of which 83 beds are in intensive care units.

For almost 40 years, IKEM has provided healthcare services at the highest level. The main objective of the institute is to continually improve healthcare for patients, to perfect medical procedures and apply the newest scientific findings in practice.