Iași leads Romania's organ transplant marathon, including first heart transplant

In a coordinated effort across several Romanian hospitals, medical teams performed two organ retrievals from brain‑dead donors aged 28 and 33 on 11 July 2026. The retrieved organs – liver, kidneys, lung, heart (the first heart transplant in Iași), cornea, bone‑tendon tissue and other tissues – were transplanted to patients in Iași, Bucharest, Cluj‑Napoca and even a clinic in Italy.

At the Iași Regional Transplant Centre, Dr. Raluca Neagu‑Movilă oversaw the operations. Four renal transplants were carried out at the Dr. C. I. Parhon Hospital, a second liver transplant proceeded at a Bucharest centre, and the historic heart transplant was performed at the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Iași by a team that included Prof. Dr. Grigore Tinică and Prof. Dr. Horațiu Moldovan. Lungs were sent to an Italian clinic, while corneas are slated for transplantation at the Iași Ophthalmology Clinic.

Meanwhile, a separate organ‑donation operation in Bistrița harvested kidneys and a liver from a 63‑year‑old donor in brain death; those organs are destined for transplant in Cluj‑Napoca. The series of procedures has provided new life to patients ranging from a 58‑year‑old renal failure case who spent 11 years on dialysis to a newborn whose heart was transplanted, marking a major milestone for Romanian transplantation medicine.