Jacob Sánchez
Mexico City, March 9. On World Kidney Day, Mexicans with a kidney transplant denounce the risk of losing their organs due to the shortage of medicines and their low quality in the public health system.
“No kidney patient is the same, each kidney is different and each process is different, but the problem is that there are no drugs that guarantee anyone that they will be able to maintain their transplant without fear of subclinical rejection,” Monserrat Linares, creator, explained to EFE. of content and who illustrates the day-to-day life of a kidney patient on his channel Nephrópata.
She, who waited more than 10 years for a kidney transplant, was part of the more than 2,710 Mexicans who received a kidney in 2022, according to data from the National Transplant Center (Cenatra).
But today he is in danger due to the lack of the medication to reduce the risk of rejection of his transplanted organ by his immune system.
At the end of 2022, more than 20,000 Mexicans were waiting for an organ donation.
Of these, more than 15,450 were kidney patients, nearly 8 out of 10 people waiting.
The risk of Linares grows due to the restriction of the drug Octralin by the Federal Commission for the Protection once morest Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) since last February 13, since it has been the only formula that has liked him.
The formula that kidney transplant patients require is Tracolimus, but they say that there is still no quality substitute in the public sector for the brand Octralin, from the Raam laboratory, since last February.
Something similar happened with the Pisa laboratory solution, since 2019, when it was also withdrawn from hospitals and public clinics, a sector where most patients go due to the high cost of treatment.
“We, as transplant patients, really need quality medications to avoid rejecting the organ, and there are many cases that we have detected in a very timely manner of how kidney function decreased when consuming low-quality medications,” Beatriz Rodríguez commented in an interview. leader of the Association of Kidney Patients and Transplant Patients of Puebla.
A WIDESPREAD SHORTAGE
Rodríguez explained that there is also a shortage in the Mexican states of the tacrolimnus formula, as well as others that kidney patients require, such as azathioprine, cyclosporine, sirolimus, and erythropoietin, which serve to avoid damaging or losing the transplanted organ.
A reflection of this is Diana, a 10-year-old girl who has lived with a kidney transplant since she was 7.
“His kidney stopped working because he was changing brands and they are of low quality. He can no longer lead his life as before, he lost weight, he cannot control his anemia, he is undergoing studies every 15 days, he cannot go out because he is vomiting, dizzy, sleepy, severe pain, fluid retention,” his mother told EFE. .
Little Diana will soon have to go back to hemodialysis and wait for years for a new kidney. Before she also took Octralin and now she has replaced it with Caritas.
“It is a violation of their rights that they are given such low-quality medicines. In theory, it’s the same substance and there shouldn’t be a bad symptom from switching brands. People don’t know the whole process that goes into having a transplant and throwing all this overboard for a bad medicine, ”insisted her mother.
Another case is that of Ileana Durán, 40 years old and who has had two transplants to date. She is facing the disease together with her 17-year-old son.
His biggest fear is also “losing the graft, my transplant and my son’s, and losing this great opportunity in life.”
They are joined by Ricardo Santuario, 29 years old. He already presents a subclinical rejection, in addition to wear and tear on his kidney function.
Another of the alerts of kidney transplant patients is that in the absence of a quality medication, their spending on medication is higher: expenses can range from 6,000 pesos (333 dollars) to over 20,000 pesos (1,111 dollars). . EFE
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