Investment in Organ Donation, Transplant Creates Savings: CENATRA

Investment in transplants and organ donation saves lives and generates savings for the health sector since those who receive an organ or tissue can recover and retake productive activities, said José Salvador Aburto, the General Director, National Transplant Center (CENATRA), during the Donation and Transplantation Forum. 

Mexico has over 200,000 patients with kidney disease, 17,300 of them are on the waiting list for a kidney, said Aburto. Investing in organ and tissue donation is highly cost effective in comparison with replacement therapy, such as hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, he added.

Hospitals, however, lack enough adequate equipment, material, economic resources and specialists to meet the demand for organ transplants, especially as 80 percent of all the operations are done in public institutions. CENATRA is working with Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) to create a medical specialization for organ transplants.

To address the limited number of organ and tissue transplants in Mexico, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) introduced the Regional Strategy and Action Plan for Organ, Tissue and Cell Donation and Transplantation and Equitable Access to Organ, Tissue and Cell Transplantation 2019-2030. This plan is built on the basis of promoting voluntary organ donation to meet the demand, while also strengthening governance and stewardship of health authorities, said Mauricio Beltrán Durán, Regional Assessor, PAHO. 

The main barrier to organ donation and transplant in the Americas is having the adequate laws and regulations to strengthen the funding and infrastructure to facilitate the coverage and access, which can be tackled through cost-effectiveness analysis studies and the evaluation of organ availability. CENATRA keeps constant updates on the status of transplants in Mexico in the Informative Statistical Bulletin National Transplant Center.