KIEV, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday approved a bill permitting organ transplantation after the death of the donor if the written consent to organ donation has been given.
The bill was supported by 255 votes in favor, surpassing the required minimum of 226 votes, according to a statement posted on the parliament's website.
The new legislation, which will come into the force in 2019, establishes a clear legal procedure of submitting a voluntary consent to after-death organ donation.
Those people, who do not want to be donors, can also register their decision in the government agencies, according to the law.
The legislation also stipulates that the organs of the individuals, whose intentions are unclear, could be donated after the consent of wife or husband, parents and children.
The law also simplifies the procedure for accrediting medical and scientific institutions that are involved in transplantation medicine.
According to lawmaker Olga Bogomolets, one of the authors of the legislation, the newly-adopted measure will increase the number of transplant surgeries in Ukraine by almost 40-fold and save the lives of about 5,000 Ukrainians annually.