Havana, Feb 24 (Prensa Latina) A total of five thousand 449 kidney transplants have been performed in Cuba over the last 45 years, among them 445 with live donors, published today daily Granma.
Doctor Guillermo Guerra Bustillo, director of the Institute of Nephrology, Abelardo Buch Lopez, told the newspaper that a service network throughout the country has been consolidated.
The 51 nephrology services distributed throughout the nation, conceived to attend adult or pediatric patients, is the main strength of this specialty in Cuba, said the specialist.
According to the physician, the organizational structure for kidney transplants includes nine credited centers for that surgery. The network is managed from the Institute of Nephrologuy by the coordinating center of the Program on Kidney Chronic Disease, dialysis and transplant since 1988.
Doctor Guerra warned of the increasing tendency of the chronic kidney disease and renal insufficiency and said that Cuba has presently about three thousand patients in dialysis who receive treatment free of charge.
There is a group of patients that despite the prevention work done, they eventually need substitutes for the renal function as is peritoneal dialysis, hemodialysis and transplants and the number of elderly patients keeps growing, as well as those with diabetes and hypertension, added the expert.
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