Non-related kidney donation now possible
Nadira Gunatilleke
Kidney patients in Sri Lanka can obtain kidneys from live non-related
donors and cadaveric donors without problem. It was earlier possible to
obtain a kidney only from a relation, monk or a priest. The Government
bears the entire cost of surgeries, a Health Ministry spokesman said.
According to the spokesman, the first ever non-related kidney
donation and transplant was conducted at the Kandy Teaching Hospital
where a 32-year-old father of two donated a kidney to a non-related war
hero.
Both donor and recipient are in good health after surgery. There are
1,000 donors in the database. They have registered to donate kidneys for
patients who need kidneys, the spokesman said.
Around 20 main Government hospitals now register kidney donors
countrywide. The hospitals are Colombo National Hospital, Kalubowila,
Ragama, Karapitiya, Kandy and Kurunegala Teaching Hospitals,
Anuradhapura, Badulla and Ratnapura Provincial General Hospitals, Ampara,
Kegalle, Negombo, Nawalapitiya, Matara, Dambulla and several District
General Hospitals and Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital.
These hospitals have computer facilities to register the donors in
the database, he said.
The new system will ease difficulties of kidney patients. The
implementation of the National Organ Donor Program which includes
transplantation of kidneys to patients with chronic kidney diseases is
supported by the National Kidney Foundation of Sri Lanka and the Kidney
Transplant Support Foundation, he added. |