The Kidney Foundation and the Health Ministry are urging South Africans to embrace organ donations as a means of saving lives.
Over 500 million people worldwide are facing life-threatening situations due to low interest in organ donations.
Dr Malcolm Davies is a neurologist at the Helen Joseph Hospital, he says people need to register as kidney donors.
“But you have to contextualize that number against the more than 7000 patients living on dialysis, or waiting for a kidney transplant. And so, to address this imbalance we need to do two things. We need to have people to be screened for kidney disease so that the diagnosis can be made early and treatment started to prevent from developing kidney failure requiring a kidney transplant. But we need our people to register as kidney donors,” says Davies.
Fifity-four-year-old mother of three, Pinky Lephoto from Alexandra, north of Johannesburg is appealing for a kidney donor.
“But now I need someone to donate me with a kidney. Because I attend dialysis three times a week. This process is costly and tiring. Really I need help please with a kidney,” laments Lephoto.
