Arthur Maisela, News24 User
A year ago my colleague was admitted in hospital because of a kidney failure. She stayed in hospital for about a month, if not more, and on her release her visits to the hospital became frequent.
At the beginning of this year she was again admitted for two weeks and since then she has not been able to go to work to date because of her poor state of health. On a weekly basis she visits the hospital and stays on the dialysis machine for hours.
I must say it is painful to see a young and aspirant woman having to suffer this way. I have shed a tear at one stage but resolved to be strong for her sake. She informed me that she will only be able to live a normal life if she can have a kidney transplant. She has been on the waiting list for some time now and her health is deteriorating daily.
During April this year someone very close to me was diagnosed with a rare liver disease (Biliary Atresia) and the doctors advised that he will need a liver transplant as soon as possible. My family was then exposed to the realities of the shortage of organ donors and the fact that more and more people die because of the absence of suitable donors.
Taboo
The situation, we were told, is bad in the black community as, inasmuch as more black people require a transplant of some sort, black people still view organ donation as taboo. The organ transplant waiting list is long and the severity of one's condition and suitability of the organ donor are factors taken into consideration before allocating an organ to a patient.
The agony of having to visit a hospital on a weekly basis to sit on a dialysis machine for hours or having needles pricked on your hand to draw blood every week cannot be bearable; I have been witness to same and would not wish the conditions on anyone's relation.
An article in the 1992 Journal of Holistic Nursing by Dr Henry Plawecki and Dr Judith Plawecki states that same-race transplants have been shown to be more successful when blood types and human leucocyte antigens are used as the matching criteria. It states further that the low level of organ donation by black people has been attributed to a number of factors. It is this low level of black donors which really worries me.
Perhaps it is time the Minister of Health (who has recently received an organ herself) elevates organ donation as part of her portfolio. The South African Organ Donor Foundation is continuously on a drive to lure more people to register for organ donation but it would seem this drive does not penetrate the black communities.
According to its website there are over 3 500 South Africans waiting for organ and tissue transplants and sadly, as a result of this critical shortage less than 1 000 of them will receive a transplant and the "Gift of Life" this year.
This number is increasing daily and unless people start appreciating the severity of this issue and registering for organ donation, more and more families will be hit hard.
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Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.