Cuba: Over Six Thousand Free Kidney Transplants in Five Decades

Havana, Feb 23 (ACN) Over six thousand people have undergone kidney transplants in Cuba since the first such surgical proceeding was successfully carried out here on February 24, 1970.

Both the surgery and the immunosuppressive medications are guaranteed for life and free of charge to all patients here, said Dr. Jorge Perez, president of the Cuban Nephrology Society, the first medical specialty set up by the Cuban Revolution.

Dr. Perez, who leads the National Kidney Disease Program under the Health Ministry, said that the opening of kidney transplants was a cornerstone in the development of Cuban medicine.

The expert noted that Cuba and other countries of the world witnessed a reduction in the number of kidney transplants in the year 2020 due to the impact by COVID 19 and despite the complex epidemic; however the Cuban program keeps operative since the medical proceedings takes place in an urgent situation aimed at saving lives.

A kidney transplant costs Cuba some 20 thousand dollars, such surgery costs from 20 thousand to 60 thousand dollars around the world.

Cuba counts on a Program of Chronic Kidney Disease, Dialysis and Transplant, some 56 Nephrology services, nine transplant centers and an established Transplant organization with immunologic studies at the level of first world nations. Over two thousand Cuban professionals assist patients on renal replacement therapy (RRT).

The president of the National Nephrology Institute, Dr. Guillermo Guerra stressed the significance of the special attention given by the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, to the development of the Chronic Kidney Disease Program.