Cuba carried out 454 organ transplants in 2017

HAVANA, Jan. 2th  (EFE)  Cuba carried out 454 organ transplants in 2017, 19 more than the previous year, according to an official report from the health authorities of the island, in which more than one million surgeries were performed during the last twelve months.

Of the transplants, 200 were from corneas, 198 from kidney, 34 from bone marrow and 22 from liver, possible operations thanks to 145 organ donations.

During 2017, 411,868 voluntary blood donations were also made in Cuba, which are essential to “ensure medical assistance and the production of components and other products for the biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry,” says the health summary published by the state newspaper Granma.

Health is free in Cuba, whose communist government sees it as one of the most important achievements of the Revolution, which today celebrates its 59th anniversary in coincidence with the celebrations for the New Year.

In its report, the Cuban health authorities indicated that for the sixth consecutive time in the country more than one million surgical interventions were performed at the end of the year.

In addition, the number of surgeries with minimal access techniques increased, for a total of more than 52,000 procedures of this type, around 6,000 more than in 2016.

The main techniques introduced in the country were related to the treatment of tumors of the colon, rectum, pancreas, larynx, pulmonary, gynecological, bladder, kidney, nasosinus and base of the skull, specifies the report.

Cuba is one of the leading countries in transplant programs in Latin America, according to figures published in 2016 by the Latin American Registry of Transplants, which calculated a rate of 13.9 donors per million inhabitants. The Caribbean island was followed by Argentina and Brazil, with 13.6, and Uruguay, with 13.2.