translated from Spanish: International Organ and Tissue Transplant Day: What You Need to Know

Mexico.- In Mexico, more than 23,000 patients are on the waiting list to be transplanted, 70 percent -16 thousand – are rightholders of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). To increase productivity by up to 10 percent per year, various mechanisms have been implemented through the training and expansion of the hospital network to perform these interventions. In the framework of National Transplant Day, to commemorate this February 27, the head of Transplant Area, Dr. Luis Alberto Peña, reported that in 2019, IMSS performed 1,528 kidney transplants, 381 thousand cornea, 314 hematopoietic progenitor cells, 71 liver and 20 heart. Meanwhile, so far in 2020, the Institute has performed 471 transplants, representing four percent growth compared to the same period last year, specifically transplanted 217 kidneys, 194 corneas, 47 bone marrow, 11 livers and 2 hearts.

Last year, 112 donations (893 tissues and 219 multi-organic scinths) were obtained, during 2020 177 donations have been generated, which represents an increase of 6.6 percent compared to the same period of 2019, which recorded 166.Luis Alberto Peña stated that to offer a safe donation, the Institute established the figure of the Hospital Coordinator in the medical structure, who has the power to make decisions regarding the donor candidate accompanied by Social Work and Nursing.He emphasized that the Institute has a large staff of specialists to carry out these interventions. There are currently 150 doctors in the transplant areas, 54 hospital coordinators and a robust network of licensed procurement hospitals -77 medical units. In addition to the work of nurses, social work and medical assistants.

Dr. Peña stressed that Social Security maintains a permanent campaign to promote organ donation and at the institutional level strengthens this practice through its 58 transplant programs distributed in 27 units -16 High Specialty Units and 11 Hospitals – in 18 delegations. He noted that IMSS has pioneered organ transplantation since 1963 when the first living donor transplant was performed between two sisters at the National Medical Center. In Mexico, Social Security was also a pioneer in performing the first successful bone marrow transplant in 1979 to cure aplastic anemia presented by a patient with his brother’s cell donation. Later, in 1988, Dr. Rubén Argoero performed the first heart transplant at La Raza National Medical Center and in 1994 a liver child was transplanted. The Head of Transplant Area explained that in the last 10 years at the Institute transplants have increased by up to 85 percent from a thousand 792 in 2009 to three thousand 314 in 2019. In this period, he said, more than 28,000 transplants have been performed.

Organ transplantation in IMSS.

In this sense, the survival of the organs has increased on average to 12 years for heart, 20 for kidney, five for liver and 10 for cornea, this depends a lot on the patient’s own care: feeding, physical activity and taking medications. The specialist urged the rightholders and the general population to give life through the altruistic donation of their organs, cells and tissues. “Transplantation is life and for an effective donation, it dialogues with your family,” he said. To be a voluntary organ and tissue donor, anyone who wants to check the National Transplant Center website: https://www.gob.mx/cenatra or visit the IMSS website in the league: http://www.imss.gob.mx/salud-en-linea/donacion-organos to register.



Original source in Spanish