THE Doobay Renal Centre, at Annandale, East Coast Demerara, and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) are moving forward with plans to introduce kidney transplant operations at no cost to renal failure patients.

Plans for this are currently engaging the attention of the Directors of the Doobay Renal Centre and officials of the hospital.
It is expected that the kidney transplants will be embarked on at the GPHC, which has already started to put measures in place for this.
The hospital had, in the past, facilitated such operations under the expertise of kidney surgeon, Dr Rahul Jindal, of the Walter Reed Medical Centre in Washington, D.C.
The hospital will recommence this medical process, with the support of kidney doctors and financial donors from Canada, and the operations will see patients incurring no cost.
This is according to Nephrologist Azim Gangji, of the McMaster Medical Centre, who is currently in Guyana engaging discussions with the GPHC officials. Dr. Gangji facilitated an education session at the Doobay Renal Centre last Friday.
Gangji, along with other kidney specialists from the Canadian Medical Centre are associated with the Doobay Renal Centre and have been offering their services there on a charitable basis since the facility opened its doors sometime last year.
Gangji is, in fact, the fourth nephrologist to visit the facility for this year, and they have been joining forces with the staff at the centre to provide a sponsored dialysis service.
However, Dr Gangji, in an interview via telephone with this publication, said that dialysis is in fact a temporary measure and could be used as a bridge to transplant.
He related that while the idea of dialysis was viewed as a big venture, measures have been initiated to take the care of renal failure patients one step further.
Dr Gangji stated that in North America, that there are two sources of kidneys available for transplant.
These are through cadavers (deceased donors), and transplants using living donors.
However, according to Dr Gangji, the best form of transplants are those involving donors who are alive, which is an idea that is being endorsed by educating patients of their options.
Dr. Gangji said that quite often patients on dialysis are distressed about their options and some are even afraid to enquire.
Simultaneously, he said, donors may not be conscious of the ways they can help their loved ones who are on dialysis.
He noted that efforts are being made to educate patients as well as their relatives; this is a move which has already commenced at the Doobay Renal Centre.
“Life expectancy following a kidney transplant has on average allowed for some 90 per cent of patients to live for as long as two decades” Dr Gangji said.
And patients who are on dialysis have a superior risk of dying, thus making a transplant the best option for the majority.
He stated that in a survey, if one chooses to look at the Canadian data, 40 per cent of individuals who start dialysis die within the first two and a half years, most of who have diabetes and vascular diseases.
A large number of Guyanese patients have diabetes as the cause of their kidney failure.
Thus one would want to get these individuals opting for a transplant as soon as possible, to give them a new lease on life and to develop their quality of life as well.
Approximately 25 patients are presently receiving dialysis treatment at the Doobay Renal Centre.
Speaking about donors, Dr Gangji informed patients that even a friend can be a donor; it does not necessarily have to be a patient.
The planned transplant operations will be phased into the GPHC range of services with an initial procedure which will require an entire team of medical professionals, inclusive of nephrologists, an urologist, and nursing employees, who will be brought in from the McMaster Medical Centre.
However, the long term plan is to train local doctors and nurses to perform the surgery themselves.
“Meanwhile we are ensuring that we have all the finances in place…we already have some to cover medications, and these are very expensive so that won’t be an issue. As far as additional testing goes, we will cover all of the testing and this will all be at no cost to patients.”
Dr Gangji said that financial support for the operations will also be made available by pharmaceutical companies in Canada and some nephrologists at the McMaster Medical Centre who will also support the cost for laboratory work.