Dutch skin tissue bank sending transplant supplies to Switzerland

A Dutch tissue bank has already sent three shipments of donor skin to burn centers in Switzerland, to help treat the victims of the fire in a bar in Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve. The Swiss burn centers requested the transplant supplies, ETB-BISLIFE, the Dutch transplant tissue supply chain, told RTL Nieuws.

According to ETB-BISLIFE, it received the first request for assistance from Switzerland on New Year’s Day. A Dutch tissue bank located in Haarlem took immediate action, sending 20,000 square centimeters of donor skin that same day. It has since sent two more shipments of donor skin. The third shipment departed on Monday.

Forty people died in the Crans-Montana fire on New Year’s Eve. 116 people were injured, 83 of whom are still hospitalized. Hospitals in Switzerland have requested a total of 123,000 square meters of donor skin to treat the victims’ burns.

ETB-BISLIFE told RTL that the Netherlands was able to help fill that need through effective collaboration within the Dutch tissue supply chain, which includes the Dutch Transplant Foundation and the Dutch Tissue Donation Organization Foundation.