Health Minister Arsen Torosyan has confirmed his intention to develop the practice of transplanting organs from deceased donors in Armenia.

Torosyan told journalists on Monday, October 21 that the method will help save many lives, A1Plus reports.

Kidney transplantation, the Minister said, is the most urgent procedure that needs to be regulated and improved. Such surgeries are currently offered in the country with organs from living donors and are partly paid for by the government.

According to Torosyan, the practice of donating organs after death has stirred heated discussions among the public, with no constructive criticism though.

The health chief said Armenians spend tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars on liver and kidney transplants abroad, whereas a part of those surgeries are performed with organs from deceased donors.

Torosyan said organ donations are arranged only after a brain death has been declared. While admitting the delicacy of the matter, the Health Minister said the country needs to move forward nonetheless.

The Minister said, however, that people are free to refuse to donate their organs and tissue when they die.

He also stressed the role of the media and social ads in the process of educating the public that the practice is a humanitarian step to save someone else’s life.

The first-ever liver transplant surgery was performed in Armenia in April. Torosyan had revealed in March that a living- and deceased-donor transplant program of kidneys, liver and heart would be launching in Armenia.