Pinoy patients oppose ban on non-related kidney donors

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino transplant patients are opposed to the plan of the Department of Health (DOH) to impose a total ban on locals receiving kidneys from living donors who are not their relatives.

Dr. Reynaldo Lesaca, head of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute’s (NKTI) Human Organ Preservation Efforts, said Filipino patients and their families have relayed to him their disappointment about the plan.

“It was brought to my attention that they feel bad about it. They do not want that to happen,” Lesaca told The STAR.

The DOH has announced this plan last Monday after declaring a total ban on foreigners receiving kidney transplants in the Philippines.

DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III maintained that the “drastic change in policy” was in consonance with the orders of President Arroyo, who wanted the country to follow the recommendation of the World Health Organization for the promotion of cadaveric donation.

According to Lesaca, there are patients that do not have a match among relatives so they resort to non-related donors.

“There is one patient who has siblings but they are diabetics. So the only way for him is to get a kidney from a non-related donor. There are other similar cases out there,” he noted.

He admitted that a lot of patients are not comfortable getting kidneys from deceased donors.

Lesaca claims that the success rate for living donors is much higher and it is cheaper because less immuno-suppressant medicines are used on the patients.

Immuno suppressants prevent the natural action of the body to fight off foreign organisms inside the body. This is given among transplant patients to enable the body to accept a new organ.

He added that the plan is “going against development,” which makes it easy now to address mismatch in organ transplants because of modern technology.