Kidneys for transplant being sold in North Cotabato town

MLANG, North Cotabato (MindaNews/4 March) -- Poor residents in one of the villages here have been selling one of their kidneys for P200,000 to foreigners needing transplants, triggering an alarm among health officials here. The recipients, said Dr. Glecerio Sotea Jr., the municipal health officer, are mostly Israelis and Arabs who undergo the kidney transplant operation at the Davao Doctors Hospital, a medical institution known for its transplant operations. The reported selling of kidneys at Barangay Bagontapay here moved health officials to conduct investigations, and eventually confirmed the reports. Sotea said that 10 residents of Bagontapay have already sold their kidneys. Eight of them were identified as couple Emmanuel and Mary Jane Lemoran, Leticia de Jose, Renely Juanitas, Vilma Maghari-Ortobis, Pane Dasal, Roy Cristobal and Gingging Tabake, residents of purok Maabi-abihon and Mainuswagon. Sotea said the practice of selling kidneys is appealing to the poor in the area because of the huge amount involved and could thus ease a family’s financial burden. The buyers, he said, are also desperately in need of the kidneys because it means saving their lives. One of the donors, Letecia de Jose, told MindaNews she sold one of her kidneys because the P200,000 is a big help for her family. “Can the government give that amount to us poor people?” she said. She stressed she did it due to severe poverty in her village, adding that no agent profited from the sale. De Jose, a farmer’s wife with nine children, said she was happy with her decision because aside from helping her family, it was an act of saving the life of her dying Israeli recipient who suffered from renal failure. Some 30 more villagers are reportedly waiting to sell their kidneys. Sotea, in his investigation, reported that the process of donation and the kidney transplant itself are legally done, even performed in a hospital accredited to perform kidney transplants. He said he got the information on the legality of the process through Dr. Jose Emmanuel del Fierro, a urologist at the DDH, who is reportedly willing to testify about the issue and present the necessary documents should the need arise. Some of the kidney donors visited by MindaNews vouched they have felt no ill effects to their health at all, at least at this time. But Sotea warned that a donor’s life may be threatened should the one remaining kidney fail later. But Ana Geronimo, the village’s committee chair on health, said they do not have control over their constituents if they want to sell their organs. “What we are doing is appealing them not to do this. But if it’s their will, we can do nothing about it,” she said. (Williamor A. Magbanua / MindaNews)

Tambal sa Sakit nga AIDS Makadoble sa Gibating Sakit sa Kasing-Kasing

Nidhi Sharma - AHN News Writer

Usa ka inila nga tambal batok sa sakit nga HIV kon “Human Immunodifficiency
Syndrome” nga Abacavir, nakita sa mga eksperto nga makadoble sa
gibating sakit sa kasing-kasing sa mga pasyenting adunay AIDS diin aduna
usab sakit sa kasing-kasing. Matud pa sa mga pagtuon, diin 517 nga mga
pasyente nga adunay AIDS gawas sa 33,000 nga mga pasyente aduna
usab sakit sa kasing-kasing. Diha sa 517 nga mga pasyente, 124 kanila ang
nagagamit ug didanosine ug 194 kanila ang migamit ug Abacavir.

Ang resulta sa ilang pagtuon nga pinangunahan ni Jens D. Lundgren nga gikan sa
University of Copenhagen ug ang iyang mga kaubanan, nagpamatuod nga ang
maong mga medisina makatabang sa pagpataas sa sakit sa kasing-kasing. Sa
gisulat sa “The Lancet of Medical Journal” ang medisina nga Abacavir nakapataas
ug kaduha sa posibilidad sa sakit sa kasing-kasing ug ang laing medisina
nga didanosine nakapataas ug 50 porsiyento sa posibilidad sa sakit sa kasing-kasing.

Apan bisan pa niining mga pahimangno gikan sa mga maayo ug inila nga mga
eksperto, ang mga doctor mituo nga makatabang gayud ang maong mga
medisina aron mukonhud ang sakit nga AIDS.

Ang Abacavir naila usab sa tawag nga Ziagen nga gihimo sa kompanyang
GlaxoSmithKline PLC. Sa laing bahin, ang Didanosine, naila usab sa tawag nga
Videx, nga hinimo sa kompanyang Bristol-Myers Squibb. Ang maong tambal
giindorso sa Pangkalibutanong Organisasyon sa Panglawas kon
“World Health Organization" (WHO) isip tambal batok sa sakit nga AIDS.