Minsa: more than 720 people are waiting for a kidney transplant in Peru

Within the framework of “World Kidney Day”, which is commemorated on the second Thursday of March each year, the Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported that, in Peru, there are 727 people with some type of kidney failure awaiting a kidney transplant to save his life.

In this regard, Juan Antonio Almeyda Alcántara, head of the Minsa’s General Directorate of Donations, Transplants and Blood Bank (Digdot), stressed that the number of patients on the waiting list makes the kidney the organ most in demand among people who require a donor.

Almeyda explained that the patient can receive the organ from a living person or a deceased donor.

“In the first case, they are related people through family, marital or affective ties. In the second, we are talking about a person who died from brain death and who meets the necessary conditions to become a donor, ”she said.

According to the General Directorate of Donations, Transplants and the Blood Bank, between 2015 and 2022, a total of 1,009 kidney transplants were performed in the country, of which 100 were performed last year. However, this number is still insufficient, which is why more donors are needed to give life even after death.

“It is important that people who wish to become donors indicate their will in the National Identity Document (DNI) and communicate their decision to their relatives, since, once the death occurs, they are the ones who have the last word”, Almeyda said.

It should be noted that the surgical process to extract the organs to be donated does not mean a greater economic impact for the donor’s family since it is a free, voluntary and altruistic act.

Likewise, it does not cause damage to the physical appearance of the deceased thanks to an established procedure that is led by a group of specialized professionals.

“To save the lives of people who are waiting for an organ or tissue, the generosity of each one of us is needed. Without donors, there are no transplants”, concluded the Minsa specialist.

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Published: 9/3/2023