Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 13, 2013 Features / Columnists, My Column
Not so long ago, people in Guyana rarely heard of renal failure. This was because we simply did not treat the disease. I suppose many people simply died and they did not have to be old people. For a fact, diabetes and hypertension are common among Guyanese largely because of lifestyle.
I would suppose that since there were not so many fast food outlets there would have been fewer cases of renal failure, although the number would have still been high. Those who had money went overseas while those who could do no better simply stayed at home and waited for death.
Today, dialysis is almost commonplace, with no fewer than five locations offering the service. The first of these was the 5G Dialysis centre in South Ruimveldt. When I visited the centre, I learnt that many people who lived overseas and wanted to come home could not because they needed dialysis and if they came then they would have been sentencing themselves to death.
That first dialysis centre opened the floodgates. Today even the Georgetown Public Hospital, which a former Health Minister said could not offer such a service because of the high cost and limited shelf life of the reagents, has a dialysis centre. People were getting a new lease on life.
As I saw the improvements in the health sector, memories came flooding back. I remember Bibi Narine seeking a kidney and getting no help from the government she had served so faithfully. The year was 1993. In the end she got the help she heeded and she is alive today.
I make this point because one of the people involved in kidney transplants today said that those who get transplants often get to live for an additional ten to fifteen years. This really got my attention; I started to appreciate life even more and saw that people were prepared to go to any length to live.
At present, kidney transplants are being done at Balwant Singh’s Hospital, having started at the Georgetown Public Hospital. I noted the cost and was stunned that there were families that were prepared to risk poverty than to let a loved one die. Then I learnt that sometimes the cost of a transplant in Guyana could be as high as five million dollars and only because the doctors who perform the surgery do so as my friend George Subraj said, for free.
But for all this, some things are lacking. Guyana needs legislation to ensure that people do not do unethical things to secure an organ. Already people have been advertising for kidneys and getting donors willing to sell one of theirs. The Chronicle actually ran an advertisement for a West Demerara man who ended up paying $1.5 million for his kidney.
Sadly, he died a mere ten weeks after the transplant. I asked myself whether it was worth the time, the money and the pain. Another bought a kidney for eight million dollars, had a transplant, and died about two weeks later.
That was when I learnt that there is no law to prevent someone from selling organs and body parts. I learnt an attorney at law actually researched the issue and advised the man who paid $8 million for his kidney.
I then asked George Subraj about the ethics of people selling organs, and he said that should his team find out that people were buying kidneys then there would be no transplant.
That was when I asked myself how the team could not know that the donor is in no way related to the recipient. Tests had to be conducted and of course, one criterion was that a donor should in some way be close to the recipient, thus reducing the extent of rejection.
I propose to talk with the surgeon, Dr Rahul Jindal, when he comes back, but until then I must try to tell people that they may wish to consider healthy eating.
I see dialysis patients as young as 21. All of them are a bit woozy after a session, because what we take for granted is left to a machine to do in three hours. The rigours on the body are unexplainable.
They say he who feels it knows it. I am always saddened when I see the suffering of others and more saddened that people do not take advice only to suffer later. It is as if they believe that they will escape any ill effect because such things are for others.
This past week I was at a dialysis centre and I saw that renal failure does not discriminate.
There was the wife of a former Permanent Secretary, a senior public servant, and of course ordinary people who struggle to put food on the table. There they were, side by side, trying to feel better and knowing that the difference between life and death is the machine to which they are hooked up. Another transplant team is prepared to come to Guyana and probably bring down the cost of a transplant even lower.
But the team leader is saying that nothing will happen unless there is legislation. I propose to approach the decision-makers on this subject.
Jagdeo giving Exxon 102 cent to collect 2 cent.
Apr 25, 2024
By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – The French Diplomatic Office in Guyana, in collaboration with the Guyana Olympic Association and UNICEF, hosted an exhibition on Tuesday evening at the...Kaieteur News – Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, persists in offering... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]