Donors advised to keep healthy

PERSONS identified as potential kidney donors will be screened and undergo checkups to ensure that their organs are suitable for patients suffering from renal or kidney disease, health authorities said yesterday.
Dr. Alvin Roxas, transplant surgeon of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), said organ donors are also held accountable in order to avoid complications for the recipient.

In Cebu, he cited 11 recent kidney transplants in the first few months of the year.

Roxas said donors were thoroughly screened before operation.

He said potential donors should be physically fit before undergoing a transplant operation.

“We only encourage healthy patients to donate an organ,” Roxas said.

He said doctors promote kidney transplants to poor patients since it is cheaper than dialysis treatments.

Dialysis consultation alone, he said, cost P5,000 a month in private hospitals and P2,000 in government hospitals.

The National Kidney Transplant Insitute (NKTI) said kidney or renal disease is the seventh leading cause of death nationwide, with 11, 172 patients undergoing dialysis for end stage renal disease.

Doctors advise persons to avoid salty food, drink plenty of water and exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. Correspondent Princess Kathleene Gabunales