More have been cared for at the Ecmo center at Karolinska Hospital in Solna during the pandemic.
The sickest covid patients in Sweden are cared for there.
Their lungs are unable to oxygenate the blood on their own and therefore they are treated with Ecmo, an artificial lung.
But a few people do not recover but they have a reduced lung capacity instead.
Those patients need a lung transplant.
So far, three people have needed a transplant.
- These are extremely many.
In a normal year, we have a single patient who is cared for at Ecmo while waiting for a lung transplant, says Lars Falk, operations manager at the Ecmo center.
The need for new lungs also seems to be increasing nationally.
At the same time, the number of donors decreased last year, which may have affected the waiting time.
So many were waiting for a lung transplant in April 2021-2019 Photo: SVT
So many donated organs after death in 2015-2020 in Sweden.
Last year, it was the lowest figure in four years.
Photo: SVT
Fewer donors in 2020 - but not in Stockholm
But while the total number of organ donors decreased at the national level last year, there were more donors in the Stockholm-Gotland Region than ever before - 52.
This surprises Öysten Jynge, transplant coordinator at the Stockholm-Gotland Regional Donation Center.
- It comes as a surprise.
But we believe that the long-term work has facilitated the donation work, he says.
In the video, Öysten Jynge talks about the factors that may have contributed to the number of donors increasing despite the pandemic.
In ten years, donors per million inhabitants have increased for both Stockholm-Gotland and Sweden.
But while it decreased at the national level last year, it increased in Stockholm-Gotland.
Photo: SVT