Spanish National News

ELCHE HOSPITAL SEES TRANSPLANT INCREASE

A Hospital surgical team performing a kidney transplant

Elche General Hospital is one of the Valencian centers with the highest number of organ donations in the Region, 24 in the last year, leading to the center quickly establishing itself, particularly in the areas of kidney and cornea surgery

The hospital first began performing kidney transplants three years ago in 2012, since when it has successful completed a total of 64, of which 23 were performed in the last year.

The coordinator of the Transplant Unit, Maria Angeles Casillas, said “This is a particularly high number, considering that we only began the procedure recently. Indeed in the first year the hospital only managed to complete four interventions.”

“This type of operation allows patients to recover a quality of life that many of them had previously lost when they became dependant on dialysis treatment. I have spoken to many patients about their daily life ‘before and after’ the procedure and they all give a very emotional testimony to the vast improvement in their lifestyles.”

Cornea transplants are another practice that the General Hospital carries out, the implementation of which provides very good results and currently enjoys a healthy rate of donors, which is encouraging news for both those who have lost their vision and the surgeons.

Of course there are always significantly more people waiting for an organ transplant than there are suitable donors and one of the roles of the staff in the Transplant Unit is making members of the public aware. In the environment in which they work they regularly come into contact with the families of deceased or dying patients who in such dramatic moments, are reminded that they are able to offer the possibility to other people of a second chance to live.

Indeed the success of organ transplants in Spain is attributed mainly to the sensitive way in which these transplant coordinators approach the bereaved families.

One member of the unit said that only about 15 percent of families approached in Spain refuse consent for organ donation, a huge drop from the 40 percent who refused in the 1980s and at many hospitals the refusal rate is nearly zero percent.

Spain currently boasts 36 donors per million people — equal to 1,682 donors — “far superior” to the European Union figure of 19, health authorities said of figures released from 2014.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/47313/

Published

9 years ago

May 16, 2015

National Spanish News Roundup from theleader.info

A Hospital surgical team performing a kidney transplant

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The hospital first began performing kidney transplants three years ago in 2012, since when it has successful completed a total of 64, of which 23 were performed in the last year.

Of course there are always significantly more people waiting for an organ transplant than there are suitable donors and one of the roles of the staff in the Transplant Unit is making members of the public aware. In the environment in which they work they regularly come into contact with the families of deceased or dying patients who in such dramatic moments, are reminded that they are able to offer the possibility to other people of a second chance to live.

Indeed the success of organ transplants in Spain is attributed mainly to the sensitive way in which these transplant coordinators approach the bereaved families.

Spain currently boasts 36 donors per million people — equal to 1,682 donors — "far superior" to the European Union figure of 19, health authorities said of figures released from 2014.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/47313/