A staggering 19,718 on the wait list for kidney
Published on: Friday, March 20, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: Almost half the number of people needing dialysis are on the wait list for a kidney transplant in Sabah, with some already waiting for more than 10 years.Nationwide, only 26 patients are waiting for various other organ transplants while a staggering 19,718 others are waiting for kidney donors.Queen Elizabeth Hospital Consultant Nephrologist, Dr Wong Koh Wei, said in Sabah, there are 1,145 patients currently on dialysis, either in government hospitals, non-governmental organisation centres or at private dialysis centres, out of which 471 of them are waiting for kidney transplants.
ADVERTISEMENT
"In QEH alone, we started more than 200 new patients on long term dialysis in 2014, many of whom are diabetic patients. In other words, we have about 20 new patients starting on dialysis very month."In some towns like Kota Marudu, Papar, Keningau and Tenom, the dialysis units in government hospitals are filled up with too many patients, and the units cannot cope anymore and cannot take in new patients, thus resulting in a long waiting list."He said the 19,718 patients on the list are waiting for a cadaveric kidney transplant, specifically, a kidney which is donated by a brain dead person - a person with total and irreversible loss of all brain function but with functional vital organs.According to Dr Cheah Phee Keng, manager of the Regional Transplant Procurement Management Unit at the Sabah Transplant Resource Centre in QEH, only about 10 per cent of annual deaths in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are brain deaths.
ADVERTISEMENT
Wong said most dialysis patients need to wait for over 10 years before they are called for a cadaveric kidney transplant, which is done in Hospital Kuala Lumpur or Hospital Selayang. Post-operation care will also be done at the respective hospitals and only when they are stable will they be sent back to Sabah for long term follow up.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said the hospital is encouraging living-related kidney transplant through patients' closest relatives such as parents, siblings and spouses where if they prove to be healthy after extensive tests and are a match to the patient, they can donate one kidney out to their sick relatives who are diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease – the stage where the kidneys are incapable of functioning at a level needed for everyday life.In terms of living-related kidney transplant, Cheah on the other hand said donation can come from three different degrees of relatives. The first degree of relatives are close relatives such as parents, children and siblings, the second are grandparents, grandchildren, uncles and aunts while the third degree of relatives are the patient's cousins. Wong said for the moment, there are about 90 patients who have had kidney transplants done, either via living-related, cadaveric, or commercial means. Commercial kidney transplant is when the patients go abroad, usually to China, and 'buy' the kidney. In Malaysia, commercial transplant is not encouraged due to ethical issues.For Malaysian citizens, the cost of undergoing a kidney transplant is minimal, almost free. Medical treatment following the operation that could cost up to thousands are also covered. However, if a patient gets commercial transplant from abroad, the medical treatment would not be covered. Wong also said ideally patients under the age of 60 with no other complications like cancer or infections should be considered for transplant if kidneys are available so that they can stop the dialysis."The transplant programme in this country, especially in Sabah, is still very slow. There are not many organ donors compared to other countries such as Singapore or European countries. "We need to raise public awareness about kidney health, as well as on kidney transplants, and to encourage more people to sign up as pledged organ donors."According to Cheah, the number of pledgers from Sabah since 1997 is only 8,405 out of the 291, 852 nationwide.The biggest issues people have on organ donation is the misconception of the procedure or lack of awareness.He also said many times the pledgers neglect to let their family know of their intention which will ultimately cause problems when they pass on as family would often deny their consent to donate the deceased's organs."Our research shows that most next-of-kin do not know the wishes of the deceased and that becomes an obstacle. It's not the decision of the next-of-kin but rather the decision of the deceased actually."The next-of-kin just need to sign the consent because the deceased obviously cannot. But if the deceased had told the family about wanting to donate their organs, we do not have much problems."Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
