Even though the pandemic has caused the deaths of more than a million people around the world, the day-to-day activities at Unicamp's Hospital de Clínicas have seen a positive outcome of the health crisis. The willingness of families to donate organs from people who lose their lives due to other causes has increased, according to doctor Ilka Boin, head of liver transplantation at HC.
“The drop in family denial went from 45% to 38% during the pandemic. It may not seem like it, but it is a significant number”, says Ilka. According to her, the great hope during this period, and even after the pandemic passes, is that this situation will continue. “The impact of the disease seems to have changed people’s willingness to donate. It's still a positive thing. We hope it continues like this”, says the HC doctor.
After the number of transplants fell sharply during the most acute months of the health crisis, the situation improved again in recent weeks, when more transplants began to take place. The issue of transplants was greatly affected throughout Brazil, mainly because most hospitals, when directing their entire infrastructure to treating Covid-19, were unable to also carry out other highly complex surgeries. At Unicamp, the number of transplants also fell significantly, but not so much due to a lack of donors, unlike what happened in several other parts of the country. In the case of Campinas, the data shows the records of 92 donors now in 2020 compared to 86 in 2019. The numbers relate to the period from January to September of both years.
“Since mid-September we have already registered a change in the pattern in relation to donors and recipients. The tendency is to continue like this”, says Luiz Antonio Sardinha, coordinator of the OPO (Organ Procurement Organization) at Unicamp. During the pandemic, according to the doctor, cases of death due to trauma and strokes, for example, decreased significantly. According to Sardinha, there are contraindications for donating organs from people infected with Covid-19.
Resumption of surgeries
Throughout the State of São Paulo, official government figures show that the number of transplants carried out ended up following the curve of the pandemic. In March, 99 transplants took place, then 82 surgeries of this type were carried out in April and 71 operations in July. In August, records show that 96 people were fortunate enough to receive an organ in hospitals in the State of São Paulo.
Last year, Unicamp alone had carried out 312 transplants between January and October in São Paulo. The main surgeries performed at HC are kidney and liver donations. In 2017, HC broke the record for operations carried out in one year, with 485 transplants. One of the country's biggest bottlenecks is logistics. In the State of São Paulo, more than 17 thousand people are in line to obtain an organ.
