Virge Pall, head of the transplant center at Tartu University Hospital, said between 50 and 70 transplant surgeries take place every year in Estonia. She said the shortage of donors is a persistent problem.

Approximately 58,000 people have signed up to be a donor, which is about 5.5 percent of the adult population. "There could certainly be more," Pall said.

People of all ages need transplants, from children to the elderly.

"For kidney transplants, the most common causes are kidney inflammations, but also diabetes and high blood pressure. The main reasons for liver transplantation are liver cirrhosis due to various causes and hepatocellular cancer. For lung transplants, a frequent cause is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; for pancreas transplants, diabetes; and for heart transplants, dilated cardiomyopathy, meaning severe enlargement of the heart," she told Sunday's "Aktuaalne kaamera."

Organs can be donated after someone has died and, in certain cases, while a donor is still alive.

"In principle, we use both deceased donors and living donors. In Estonia, living donors are used only for kidney transplants, and a person can donate a kidney during their lifetime to a close relative with whom they have a genetic or emotional connection. Post-mortem donation is anonymous, and in Estonia we use only those donors who have developed brain death, meaning brain activity has ceased," Pall said.

Misinformation may play a role in the small number of sign-ups.

"There is a certain myth circulating that if I have submitted a declaration of intent and end up in hospital, perhaps I will not be treated," Pall said.

She denied this is true, saying doctors focus on treating the patient: "The declaration is viewed in the digital medical record only when it is no longer possible to save that life, but it would be possible to save someone else's."

Since 2017, Estonia has also been part of the organ exchange organization Scandiatransplant, along with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. This makes it possible to assist in cases involving patients who need especially urgent transplants or have complex medical histories.

"When a person's own life here has ended, after death they can still do good for someone. Their organs can offer many more years of life to someone else," Pall said.

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