Chronic kidney failure is not much talked about in this country, yet the number of sufferers, especially blacks, keeps growing. Worryingly, there’s a perception in the townships and rural areas that kidney failure is a white man’s disease.
 According to the country’s top kidney specialist Prof Meyers and a black kidney “coordinator”, the majority of chronic renal failure patients are black. The reason for this is that hypertension and diabetes – the main causes of kidney failure – are genetic diseases that severely affect blacks as young as 25.
Most of the people on the waiting list for kidney transplants are black, which prompts the question: why do so few black people donate organs?
Special Assignment has discovered that that many blacks say their cultural and religious beliefs prevent them from donating their organs or those of their loved ones. The Traditional Healers Organisation argues that accepting an organ from a person from another culture or race group will displease the ancestors.  The South African Council of Churches says the resurrection issue needs to be discussed openly with member churches: do people need organs at all in the after-life? And if not, why is there such a problem with donating organs?
While there are about 40 000 chronic renal failure patients, the country has about 3000 dialysis slots in both private and public hospitals. This means some patients get sent home to die and others, like those in Mpumalanga, have to travel over 400km to a dialysis machine in Gauteng. Clearly, kidney donations would alleviate the problem and keep many from dying.
“Gift of Life” is produced by Thuli Nhlapo and was filmed by Jan de Klerk |
