Credit: Centre Hospitalier Neuro-Psychiatrique

The Ministry of Health and Social Security announces the traditional Spinning Marathon organised with Luxembourg Transplant, the national body for organ donation and transplantation, to raise awareness of organ donation, which will take place on Sunday 12 October 2025 from 10:00 to 18:30 at the LuxExpo The Box in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

World Organ Donation Day is marked annually on 17 October. On this occasion, the Ministry wishes to raise public awareness of the importance of this vital and solidarity-based act. Martine Deprez, Minister of Health and Social Security, stated: “Organ donation is an essential act of solidarity. With the introduction of the Shared Medical Record (DSP), it is important to record one’s position in order to express one’s wishes clearly.”

The Spinning Marathon brings together more than a thousand participants and supporters each year and invites the public to learn more about organ donation and to make their wishes known via the DSP and to their families and healthcare professionals.

Organ donation can be the only life-saving treatment for certain severe illnesses and, in many other cases, it significantly improves quality of life. According to the Ministry of Health and Social Security, Luxembourg recorded seven organ donors in 2024, a figure stable compared with 2023. These donations enabled 22 organs to be transplanted via the Eurotransplant network. Over the same period, 104 patients were on the national pre-transplant waiting list for procedures in partner centres abroad, up by 17 year on year; 48 new patients were added to the list and two were removed. In total, 36 residents of the Grand Duchy received a transplant in foreign partner centres in 2024, the Ministry noted.

Residents can formally record their wishes regarding organ donation through the Shared Medical Record (DSP). The Ministry explained that, on first login, users may consent to or refuse post-mortem organ retrieval and that this choice has official status and is verified by a physician before any procedure. Before retrieval, the physician must consult the DSP; if there is no DSP entry or it is closed, the physician turns to the designated person of trust. Under the amended Law of 25 November 1982 on organs intended for transplantation, anyone who has not expressed an objection is considered a potential donor.

Further information on the awareness event is available on www.luxtransplant.lu.