2 thousand Kazakhstan citizens require transplantation

Almost 2 thousand people are in need of organs transplantation in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan Healthcare Ministry’s Department of Medical Aid Organization. In particular, 1,609 patients need kidneys transplantation, 80 people are on the wait-list for donor hearts and 268 require liver transplantation. According to the Ministry, Kazakhstan is takes big steps to develop domestic transplantology. 93 surgeries on organs and bone marrow transplantation were performed in the first half of 2013 in Kazakhstan, compared to 74 surgeries in 2012 and only 4 in 2009. “The second multiorgan transplantation (heart, liver, two kidneys) in Kazakhstan was performed in Syzganov National Scientific Surgery Center on July 3-4, 2013. Besides developing domestic transplantation medicine Kazakhstan is sending patients abroad for treatment in foreign clinics. One such patient costs the state budget from 200 thousand to 300 thousand Euro,” the Department reported. According to the Ministry, Kazakhstan is no the only country experiencing a deficit of donor organs, most countries around the world are facing the same problem. “Around 80 percent of transplantations in Europe and America are performed with the used of cadaveric donations, whereas 99.9 percent of transplantations in Kazakhstan are performed from live donors. This is related to cadaveric donorship problem in the country,” the Ministry added. The reason for such statistics lays in negation of cadaveric donorship in Kazakhstan driven by religious views of Kazakhstan citizens, low awareness about donorship, lack of experience and unwillingness of some doctors and heads of medical facilities to take part in development of cadaveric donorship because of insufficient knowledge of the legal framework and fear of legal liability, as well as mistrust to doctors and suspicion of organ sales, the Ministry explained. The Healthcare Ministry denies that a so-called black market of organs exists in Kazakhstan. “Sale of human organ requires surgeons capable of recovering the organs, special conditions for the surgeries and storage of the organs and expensive equipment. There are only 10-12 such surgeons in Kazakhstan and only 6 clinics dealing with organs transplantation. Every transplantation involves around 14-20 doctors and medical personnel. If there was a black market of organs in Kazakhstan, there would have been at least on person among the medical personnel involved who would have let it slip and the information would have become available to public. Fortunately, there have never been such cases in Kazakhstan,” the Ministry declared.