Mexico to Introduce Legal Organ Donor ID in 2026

Mexico City — With 2,783 kidney transplants, 245 liver transplants, 46 heart transplants — four of them dual heart-kidney — and 10 lung transplants performed in 2025, Mexico closed the year with figures that place the public health system at international survival standards, the Ministry of Health reported during the year’s final morning conference.

Based on these results, President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that starting in 2026, citizens will be able to legally express their willingness to be organ donors through the new Universal Health System ID card, a document with legal validity that will overcome one of the main current obstacles: family refusal, even when the person expressed their desire to donate during their lifetime.

The president explained that the ID card will include the citizen’s signature and the legend “organ donor,” providing legal record of a free, conscious, and voluntary decision. She emphasized that this is not an imposition, but rather about guaranteeing legal certainty and respect for individual will.

Health Secretary David Kershenobich presented the national balance and recalled that a single person can save up to eight lives. He detailed that in the last five years, 14,347 transplants have been performed, of which 10,104 were from living donors and 4,243 from deceased donors. The survival rate reaches 93.5% for living donors and 84.2% for deceased donors, levels comparable with countries of high medical specialization.

Regarding liver transplants, he specified that 245 were performed in 2025, 187 of them in public hospitals, with a five-year survival rate of 71.5%. For heart transplants, 46 procedures were completed, with a four-year survival rate of 62.9%, while for lung transplants, 10 were performed this year and 48 in the last five years.

“Get informed, decide, and share it with your family!” Kershenobich urged, announcing that pancreas transplants will begin soon. The national campaign will carry the slogan “For a Mexico without a waiting list” and “Donating is transcending.”

Sheinbaum stated that the goal is to consolidate Mexico as a reference in procurement and transplants, strengthening the public sector with quality and safety. The National Transplant Center (Cenatra) enabled the phone number 55-54-87-99-02 and a digital platform for voluntary donor registration.