Africa-Press – Cape verde. Portugal will help Cape Verde create partnerships to send compatibility samples abroad, allowing kidney transplants to begin in the country soon, the two countries announced on Tuesday.
The deadline should coincide with the completion of a new surgical center at the Agostinho Neto University Hospital (HUAN), in the capital, Praia.
“We will continue to support this [organ transplant] circuit, which is relatively complex in terms of partnerships with private companies. This means a very close dialogue with TAP, Rangel [logistics company], the Portuguese Blood Institute and other entities,” said the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (SENEC), Ana Isabel Xavier, during a visit to that health unit.
The minister, who ends a two-day visit to the archipelago today, explained that Portuguese cooperation has supported the initiative since the beginning, being one of the lines of action defined at the bilateral summit held in January, in Lisbon.
“We are very excited about the prospect that we will soon have a block here with its own capacity, with financial and medical appropriation by the Government of Cape Verde, to boost public health policy in this area, which is so important for Cape Verdeans,” he added.
The chairman of the board of directors of HUAN, Evandro Monteiro, stated that, thanks to the internal effort and the partnership with Portugal, “there is very little time left” for the start of kidney transplants in Cape Verde.
“Only the final work is needed to have a functional surgical center for transplants and other surgeries. I can guarantee that, within a month at the most, it will be operational,” he said.
To achieve this, it is necessary to establish partnerships with private companies to facilitate the rapid and safe transportation of patient compatibility samples.
Training is already underway for the team responsible for internally validating the admissibility of transplants, with the legal aspects resolved and the team formed.
“All that remains is to complete the physical space of the surgical center, which is in the final phase. In recent months we have taken significant steps,” stated Evandro Monteiro.
Cape Verde currently has two dialysis centers: one in Praia, Santiago Island, opened in 2014, and another in Mindelo, São Vicente Island, in 2021.
The Hospital de Santo António, in Porto, is a partner in the transplant project, which includes support in the installation of surgical material in Cape Verde, training and the presence of specialized surgeons to create local autonomy.
Over the past three years, the HUAN dialysis center has regularly welcomed around 160 users, while the Mindelo center serves around 120 patients.
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