11,000 waiting for kidney transplants

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 11,000 patients are still waiting for kidney transplants while 29 others need livers, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
He said another eight patients needed heart transplant surgery while 12 others had to undergo lung transplants and heart and lung transplants for two other patients.
“Up until Friday (Dec 11), we obtained 36 cadavers, 32 kidneys, four livers, 23 pairs of corneas, 19 heart valves tissues, seven bones and three skin.
“However, the number of patients waiting for organ transplants are far more than what we have obtained,” he told reporters at a press conference after the launch of the 3rd Global Bio-Herbs Economic Forum here Saturday.
Last year, he said, 56 kidney and five liver transplant surgeries had been carried out but there was no transplant of heart and lung.
He said by the end of last year, the cumulative organ transplant operations were kidney (1,264), liver (86), heart (19), lung (three) and heart and lung (one).
“The number of pledges for organ donation for this year is 13,546 while the accumulated pledges since 1997 is 135,847.
“We need more people to come forward to make the pledge so that we can save more lives,” he said, adding that 45% of them were male.
Liow said his ministry would send a thank you note to the parents of a 17-year-old boy from Kampar who consented to donate their son’s organs, including the heart, after the teenager was declared brain-dead after a road accident.
“We are sad over his demise but we also want to express our gratitude to his parents for making the decision to donate his organs,” he said.