Organ donation information emblazoned on the credit card at Apobank
Human organ donations are priceless. Apobank customers can have their willingness to donate written on Mastercards.
(Image: Daniel AJ Sokolov)
Germany has too few organ donors. While Austria, for example, has chosen an opt-out solution, the “decision solution” applies in Germany. Only those who have actively spoken out in favor of organ and/or tissue donation are eligible as donors. Thousands of Germans are on the waiting list for a donor organ. However, 85 percent of Germans would be willing to donate in an emergency, but less than half document this.
Deutsche Apotheker- und Ă„rztebank (Apobank) would like to help them. It is the first bank in Germany to issue the Life Donor Mastercard. This card shows the voluntary decision to donate organs and is therefore a credit card and organ donor card in one. Otherwise, no medical data is noted.
Mastercard Germany hopes that other card issuers will soon offer this feature: “We hope that other banks will soon follow suit because we can achieve a lot together with this pragmatic feature: raising awareness of the importance of organ donation in Germany,” said Managing Director Peter Robejsek. “If we succeed in increasing willingness, we can save lives together.”
Vimpay is already involved
Another financial institution is already involved: since the fall, holders of a Mastercard debit card from the e-money institution Paycenter (Vimpay) have been able to have their declaration of organ and tissue donation entered on their payment card. Apobank is now launching the first German Mastercard credit card with this feature.
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Deutsche Apotheker- und Ă„rztebank is a cooperative. Its customers are members of the medical professions, their professional organizations and associations, healthcare facilities and companies in the healthcare market.
An online register for potential organ donors has been available in Germany since March last year , initially without tissue donors. In the first year, around 280,000 people registered there. Less than eight percent have rejected organ donations in principle, with a further seven percent differentiating between organs.
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