Kidney patients awaiting transplants in bad shape

Star: MANY kidney patients awaiting transplants are in no condition to go for an operation and do not have long to live, Malaysia Nanban reported.
In the past 18 months, the number of patients waiting for kidney transplants had jumped from 5,000 to 15,000 people but in the last 10 years only 109 kidney transplants have been done.
About 1,300 people undergoing kidney dialysis die each year. The health of many undergoing dialysis and waiting for kidney transplants has been affected and many are in no condition to go for an operation.
Last year the National Transplant Resource Centre received 13 kidneys from donors while in 2005, they received only five kidneys. This year the number of patients has increased but the centre has received no kidneys so far.
National Kidney Foundation vice-president Datuk Dr Zaki Morad Mohd Zaher said that a lot of lives could be saved if the body organs of least 10% of the 6,000 deaths that occur annually due to road accidents are harvested.
He said that while a person undergoing kidney dialysis could live for more than 10 years, only a kidney transplant could guarantee a normal healthy life.
Mentakab residents and public organisations have submitted a memorandum to the Government regarding poor medical facilities in the town after the 80-year-old General Hospital was closed and turned into an outpatient clinic, Malaysia Nanban reported.
While the hospital is being renovated, a new hospital is being built about 25 km away on the route to Kuantan.
Residents needing hospital care have to spend RM60 just on the trip instead of the RM5 they used to spend.
Emergency treatment becomes a nightmare as patients have to wait for a long time for an ambulance to come from nearby towns.