Latest update November 5th, 2024 1:00 AM
Some Guyanese are opposed to kidney donation, says Transplant Surgeon
Kidney Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Kishore Persaud
There are some Guyanese who are opposed to donating an organ even to a family member.
In fact, it has been found that Guyanese of African descent are among those who are especially opposed to being organ donors.
This is the deduction of Kidney Transplant Surgeon at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC], Dr. Kishore Persaud, who revealed that among this faction of the population there are very few who have been willing to donate a kidney to help save the lives of their loved ones.
“We notice that African patients’ relatives are very scared to donate to their relatives and that is because there are multiple psychosocial reasons…We want to highlight that they can come forward and donate just like any other person,” Dr. Persaud explained at a recent press conference.
In order to sensitise relatives about the process, Dr. Persaud said deliberate efforts are made by the hospital, through its Kidney Failure Department, to sensitise patients about the process. He however disclosed that there are sensitisation sessions that target both donors and recipients. But despite this effort, he noted, “we have been finding that within our population…especially in the African race, they are scared to donate…we have a lot of patients who have kidney failure that are of African descent. What we find for them is that their relatives, they come [and] they find out about it and then they don’t ever think about it [donating].”
As such, Dr. Persaud said that the GPHC is on a mission to increase its sensitisation efforts. According to the Transplant Surgeon, both patients and donors who are attended to at the GPHC are monitored closely and given optimum care.
“All of our donors are doing 100 percent well. We can show you all the past donors…” said Dr. Persaud.
He moreover made it clear, “we would never take a kidney from someone if we know it will cause harm to them…we would never do that. That is why we have a programme to monitor our recipients and we also monitor our donors.”
“So we want to highlight this especially for these patients, regardless of if they are a match for their relative or not,” said Dr. Persaud, as he spoke about moves to expand the services offered to kidney failure patients at the GPHC to include a paired exchange programme. This essentially allows for patients to exchange donors once they are found to be compatible.
Already the hospital has completed a total of six kidney transplant surgeries for this year alone and another three are slated to be conducted before the year ends, Dr. Persaud disclosed.
But according to him, “there are tons of people who need kidney transplant in this country…there are over 100 patients who are on dialysis, but 20 percent of them cannot have transplants because of other complications. Eighty percent will need a transplant.”
In addition to conducting transplant surgeries independently, the GPHC has over the years also benefitted from support of at least two overseas groups.
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