Be a kidney donor, be a hero: DOH

“As donor of kidney to someone who needs it, one can be a hero,” Health Undersecretary Herminigildo Valle said in an interview with the media. (Photo by Alan Turkus/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

MANILA — The Department of Health on Monday echoed the call of the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) for Filipinos to be kidney donors to give other people a second chance to live.

“As donor of kidney to someone who needs it, one can be a hero,” Health Undersecretary Herminigildo Valle said in an interview with the media.

Valle said that by being an organ donor or carrying an organ donor card, a person will actually convey the message of giving chance or helping others to live after his/her death.

He also said that it is time that people should start correcting the notion that doctors would be complacent in saving the lives of holders of the donor card in case the donor is in critical stage.

“That’s wrong. A doctor’s priority is actually saving lives,” he added.

He said what prevents Filipinos to be organ donors is their strong bond with their loved ones, hoping that miracles will happen in near-death cases.

Meanwhile, Valle said living donors can also safely give a kidney with proper monitoring.

“Living donors who donated their kidneys undergo annual tests: blood test to check the creatinine as a measure of kidney function, urinalysis to check if there is protein in the urine and checking of the blood pressure,” he said.

According to NKTI, there is a need to increase the number of living organ donors.

“Unfortunately, the number of patients transplanted from deceased donors in the country remains ‘dismally low’,” NKTI executive director Dr. Rosemarie Liquete said.

She said that in 2016, there were 438 patients transplanted with kidneys from living donors.

In contrast, she said that from 64 transplants from deceased organ donors in 2009, which peaked at 90 in 2011, the figure went down to 42 in 2016.

“Last year, the number of kidney transplants from deceased donors further dropped to 20,” Liquete added.

In the Philippines, one Filipino dies of kidney failure every hour.

For 2018 alone, she said that NKTI has only received three deceased organ donors, noting that encouraging more Filipinos to understand the heroic act of saving one’s lives upon death is vital.