National Panorama of Donation and Transplants
The health system in Mexico faces a challenge of critical proportions: approximately 20 thousand individuals are waiting for a transplant procedure. The shortage of organ donors represents a 75 percent deficit, which means that, in practice, only around five thousand recipients are able to access the intervention they need annually. This alarming disparity leaves the vast majority of patients on the waiting list in a situation of extreme vulnerability, depending on an act of solidarity that does not occur on the required scale.
Eduardo Tapia Alcalá, Hospital Coordinator of Organ and Tissue Donation of the Old Civil Hospital of Guadalajara “Fray Antonio Alcalde”, provided an eloquent numerical context: “If we consult the official record, in Mexico there are almost 20 thousand patients waiting, and nearly five thousand interventions have been performed. transplant. This translates into a accumulated delay of 15 thousand people. The percentage of deficit remains at approximately 75 percent, which shows the prevailing need to intensify efforts to promote this culture of donation. It is for this reason that the National Transplant Center (CENATRA) has adopted the motto ‘For a Mexico without a waiting list.’
Demand Distribution and Progress in Jalisco
According to the most recent data from the National Transplant Registry, as of July 30 of the current year, 19,199 people required an organ or tissue to improve their quality of life or simply to survive. The distribution of this need is overwhelming: 16,511 patients are waiting for a kidney graft, 2,424 need a cornea transplant and 226 are waiting for a liver. These three indications concentrate the greatest demand within the system.
A focus of hope and analysis is found in the state of Jalisco. During the previous year, this federal entity performed a total of 996 transplant procedures. Of this figure, 424 were made possible thanks to living donation, while 482 were possible through cadaveric donation. This year has shown an encouraging trend, since in the period from January to July 597 transplants have been achieved, of which 276 came from a living donor.
Benjamín Gómez Navarro, General Director of the State Center for Organ and Tissue Transplants of the State of Jalisco (Cetrajal), highlighted a significant evolution in procurement patterns. “In 2010, donation in Jalisco was made up of ten percent of cadaver origin and ninety percent of living donors. Fifteen years later, the proportion is 25 percent of cadaver and 75 percent of living donors. Last year we were at twenty percent, today we have increased five points additional percentages. This statistic reflects that we are achieving a greater number of effective procurements, more concretized donations and a higher rate of family acceptance.”
Persistence of the Lag and the Imperative of Awareness
Despite these quantifiable advances, the state reality is no less challenging than the national one. In Jalisco, a considerable delay persists, with an active waiting list that includes six thousand 674 patients, whose ages range between 4 and 76 years. Of this conglomerate, 90 percent, that is, the overwhelming majority, require a kidney organ. The rest of the patients wait for a cornea, a liver, a pancreas, a combined liver and kidney transplant, or even a heart.
José Antonio Hernández Robles, Organ and Tissue Donation Coordinator of the New Guadalajara Civil Hospital “Dr. Juan I. Menchaca”, underlined the essence of the problem and its possible solution. “We continue to experience a significant lag in donation. This situation makes it imperative to provide massive and constant dissemination, as well as raise awareness among the population about these processes. It is essential to convey that, despite the grief and intrinsic difficulty that a family experiences after the loss of a loved one, there is the transcendent possibility of giving life to others. Organ donation represents a legacy of hope in the midst of personal tragedy.”
The commemoration of National Organ and Tissue Donation Day, on September 26, serves as an annual reminder of this urgent collective need. The road ahead is long, and closing the 75 percent gap requires a multifaceted effort that involves health institutions, the media, and society as a whole. The goal of a Mexico without a waiting list is ambitious, but each new family conversation about donation, each registration as a donor and each acceptance in a moment of pain, constitutes a fundamental step towards its achievement.
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