A team of doctors at Zagreb KB Dubrava hospital have successfully transplanted nine hearts in only two months, which is the hospital's record since 1995 when it began organ transplantation.

Speaking in an interview with public television HTV on Sunday evening, Dr Igor Rudez, head of the Department of Cardiac and Transplantation Surgery at KB Dubrava, said he was surprised by the amount of organs received, adding that they were immensely happy about it because they were able to save many patients.

63-year-old Ilija Cabraja received a new heart on Sunday after spending a month on an emergency list. He has been waiting for a transplant since 2020 and his condition deteriorated recently. The hospital called him on Sunday morning to say that a heart was coming from Austria.

Dr Rudez said that the patient’s heart was beating well with the minimum support of medicines. “If everything goes well, the patient should wake up by morning and be taken off the respiratory machine.”