Organ donation starts next year, says PhilNOS 12/20/2010

Organ donation starts next year, says PhilNOS

12/20/2010
Based on current statistics, only one in 10 million Filipinos who meet sudden death — say, a fatal accident or a stroke — donates any of their organs to those who need them to live. Compare this with a country like Spain, where as many as 350 of 10 million Spaniards in their last throes shared their organs in 2005.

The Philippine government, through the Department of Health (DoH) and private-sector partners, is hoping to improve the country’s numbers in this regard starting next year, especially with the notable rise in illnesses like chronic kidney disease (CKD), a cousin to hypertension and diabetes, that often deteriorates to an end-stage condition requiring kidney transplantation.

Organizing the procurement of organs from the “brain dead” to give new life to those who are sick is the tough new proposition to meet the growing needs of Filipino patients for organ transplant, and to turn around the country’s besmirched reputation in recent years because of alleged organ-trafficking activities.

A tall order, but doable, says organ-transplant surgeon Dr. Maria Vanessa De Villa, a main architect of the newly launched DoH program on organ donation from deceased donors. She estimates that it might take several years for the program to see optimal results as shown in other countries, an assessment that is drawing some concern among fellow practitioners..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

 URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101220nat2.html