Over 100 patients in Moldova are currently in need of transplants, IPN learned from Igor Codreanu, director of the Transplant Agency.
Some 70 Moldovans are awaiting liver transplants and 30 others kidney transplants. This contrasts with the situation in many western countries, where kidney transplants prevail. Codreanu explains this is because Moldova has started performing liver transplants only recently. Many patients who developed hepatitis in the Soviet era didn’t get adequate treatment then, and now they require transplants.
Each year approximately equal numbers of liver and kidney transplants are performed. However liver donation is more difficult and carries more risks for the living donor. Most often, the donors are mothers donating to their children. Wives donating to husbands is more frequent than the other way around, and this is in line with the global trend. Sometimes close friends also become donors.
In case of living donors, a commission is formed to approve the transplant, consisting of a police officer, a counselor and a doctor, who advise both the donor and the beneficiary.
Igor Codreanu says that in recent years many organs have come from brain-dead patients, with the approval of their families. The patients willing to become organ donors in case of brain death may do so by registering with the Transplant Agency. Even with the donor’s consent secured, the family’s approval is mandatory.
Last year, 13 kidney transplant surgeries were performed in Moldova, compared to 19 surgeries in 2017, and 7 were possible thanks to brain-dead donors. Of the 11 liver transplants last year (12 in 2007), brain-dead donors accounted for 6.
