IKEM numbers revealed

The head of the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in the Czech Republic (IKEM) Aleš Herman on Monday revealed the number of transplants the clinic conducted in 2012: a total of 396 organs for 373 recipients. The institute’s aim, Mr Herman told journalists, was to become the national transplant centre, but he warned that finances were a problem. According to the institute’s director, not all procedures last year were covered by the insurance companies and the institute had to cover 160 million crowns in losses from other programmes. Mr Herman is in talks with the health ministry as well as insurers to try and find a solution. Last year the institute conducted the highest number of liver transplants, among both children and adults, and kidney transplants, in its history, as well as transplants of the heart and pancreas.