Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 11, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew has laid out plans to facilitate renal transplants in St. Kitts and Nevis.
During a roundtable conversation with the media on Thursday Prime Minister Drew said the aim is to bring relief to the many persons in the federation who depend on dialysis.
“There are a lot of our people who are on dialysis…I would always say that prevention is better; Control blood pressure, blood sugar, your weight, and what you eat, these are the most important. But for those who are already ill, we want to do all that we can to help them,” he said. “Dialysis is very good, but the best way is to have renal transplant. Renal transplant is becoming routine. And when I see all the patients who go to JNF for dialysis, these young people, why can’t they have a renal transplant?”
He said in the preparatory stages he has already overseen several measures which lead up to the introduction of this type of surgery.
“I know we have received dialysis machines, we have received a general surgeon,” he said. “I’ve got increased surgical equipment for anesthesiology. I am bringing a very experienced anesthesiologist who I’ve already spoken to, who is Kittitian-born to join our experienced team that is already there. I’m touching base with the lab to do the cross-matching to see that will tell you if somebody can receive a kidney from someone else.”
The prime minister said in just over a month they will begin discussions with a surgeon to make renal transplants a reality in 2024.
“And the surgeon I’m bringing here in the next six weeks…We discussed six weeks and we are going to start to implement the possibility of having renal transplant here,” he said. “I’m going to push it so that next year, we can really pursue our first renal transplant here in St. Kitts and Nevis.”
Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew.
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