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While a 4th ministerial organ and tissue transplant plan was unveiled last March, the waiting time to obtain certain organs, including the liver, continues to lengthen. On the occasion of the National Day of Reflection on Organ Donation and Transplantation, we take stock with Magali Leo, representative of Renaloo, Association of patients with kidney disease.
On March 16, a fourth organ and tissue transplant plan (2022-2026) was launched by the government, arousing the satisfaction of the associations which had campaigned in its favour.
Three months later, the Renaloo association, which represents patients with kidney disease, expresses its “deep concern“with regard to the conditions for implementing the new plan, in a context marked, moreover, by multiple hospital crises.
Registry: considerable waiting time
Some patients can wait years before obtaining a transplant – while they have the right, like other patients, to be duly treated.
Delays in organizing living donor transplants, announced recently, can sometimes go as long as 2024.
Several factors explain this delay: lack of personnel, training, information, awareness, living and deceased donors, etc.
“In Spain, the “leading” country for blood donation from deceased donors, waiting times do not exceed a few months. They have means, teams and trained personnel. The Spanish State is really committed”analyzes Magali Leo.
Catalonia is also the “champion” Spanish region in terms of transplants. A gain for patients, of course, but also economical.
“After developing different scenarios, we calculated that France would gain 200 million euros in savings in five years if it followed the Catalan transplant model.adds the representative of the Renaloo association.
Indeed, any delay in transplant entails considerable additional costs for our health system: a month of dialysis costs more than 5,000 euros to the Health Insurance. In total, each patient costs 60,000 euros per year.
A loss of chance for the sick
In addition to the economic aspect, the decline of the graft poses significant risks to the patient, such as that of functioning less well and for a shorter time. Magali Leo doesn’t hesitate to talk about “loss of luck“.
“In any case, this is reason enough for the transplant to become a national priority..”
The success of the new transplant plan is based on the need to strengthen health personnel in this sector, believes our interlocutor: “Recruit and train“, specifies Magali Léo.
“Donating your kidney (or any other organ) is an altruistic approach, a civic gesture, which should be more recognized by the nation. she adds.
June 22 is also National Donor Recognition Day.