Cuban Transplant Program Presented at Congress in Havana

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 23 (acn) The Cuban model for the coordination of ransplants, and the donation of organs, tissue and cells, praised by world experts, was presented on Thursday at the 5th International Congress of Casualties, Emergencies and Intensive Care (URGRAV 2009) in
this capital.

Cuba is among the top 15 nations in this activity and its donor rate was 18 per million inhabitants in 2007, which places the archipelago in second position in Latin America, after Uruguay.

Experts state that the average of donors in the European Union, with 27 member nations, is 16.9 and that Cuba is above the United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany, among other countries.

This is due to the coordination structure extended throughout the archipelago, where there are more than 60 hospitals accredited for donations besides the centers where the surgical procedure is performed, the director if the National Center for Medical Emergencies, Dr Juan Alberto Falcón, told ACN.

He underlined that these achievements are possible thanks to the political will of the Cuban State and government for the development of this therapeutic method, which requires a high budgetary and organizational level, from the Public Health Ministry to hospital services.

The Cuban physician pointed out that this constitutes one of the strengths of the Cuban program, which has increased the number of patients benefiting from this practice, initiated in the archipelago in 1970 with kidney transplants and now adds up to 4,500, including those
of heart, liver, lung, cornea, and hemopoietic cells.

Falcón highlighted the solidarity, humanism and high spirit of altruism of the Cuban society, which makes it possible, amid a moment of sorrow and grief for the loss of a loved one, for families to be capable of authorizing donations to contribute to save the lives of other people
waiting for organs to be transplanted.

The scientific event, underway at Havana’s Convention Center until Friday, gathers experts from numerous countries and includes the 3rd International Congress of Nursing and the 2nd Forum of the Latin American Association for Cooperation in Medical Emergencies and Disasters.



(Expondrán programa cubano de trasplantes en cita mundial)