One man has been controlling everything "transplant" in Romania for 10 years – report

The coordination of transplant activities in Romania has not been done by the National Transplant Agency, „as legal provisions say”, since 2009, but by a national coordinator, a Health Ministry report says, as HotNews.ro revealed. The report shows that a single man – Victor Zota – has coordinated transplant activities and had „exclusive” control over all information and activities on the route of organs from donors to receivers, the report shows.

The report, made following checks by the Health Ministry control body at the National Transplant Agency, shows the same information that Zota had access to was not available at the Agency.

Zota is said to have held the reins as a „national transport coordinator”, a position „created without any legal provision” to support it.

The official document confirms the chaos and serious irregularities that have hit Romania’s transplant sector, hit by a series of massive scandals for the past several years.

Victor Zota had served as head of the National Transplant Agency beteen 2006-2009. He received a suspended sentence for oocyte trafficking. Despite the sentence, he became national transplant coordinator, a position that an ex-Health minister described at one point as „non-existent in legislation”.

• Full report in Romanian here