Lack of organ donors costs $3 billion

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Patients are seen at the dialysis unit in a public hospital in the province of Sivas. DHA photo

Inefficiency in conducting organ transplants costs the Turkish economy $3 billion per year, according to a report by the Chamber of Certified Public Accountants of Istanbul (İSMMMO).

Treatment and medicine expenditures, device imports and labor loss all add up to $3 billion per year, said the report Organ Transplants and the Truth about Turkey.

Calling on non-governmental organizations to raise awareness of the issue, he said “Measures must be taken urgently, and the work of the state on this issue must be supported.”

Over 20,000 patients were waiting for kidney, liver, heart, pancreas and lung transplants in Turkey, the report said. Also, 40,000 kidney patients in Turkey out of 70,000 sustain their lives tied to dialysis machines. The number of patients that suffer from chronic kidney failure will hit 115,000 in 2016, according to the report.

The yearly cost of supporting a dialysis patient is about $30,000, the report said. This makes the total cost of Turkey’s 70,000 dialysis patients around $2 billion per year.

The number of organ transplants in 2010 was 106,879. Global need for transplants rises at least 10 percent every year, the report said, citing World Health Organization data.