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Venezuela’s prolonged economic crisis is closing in on another set of victims: organ transplant patients.
Those who were lucky enough to get a transplant in the country are warning that a shortage of post-transplant medications is putting them at risk of losing their organs. The situation is so dire, that some are resorting to using expired drugs, or are stopping their treatment altogether.
Every time Luis Lusinchi counts how many pills he has left, he gets a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He often does not know if he’ll have enough to make it through the month.
The Venezuelan pensioner received a new kidney from his son 18 years ago. And ever since, he has been taking immunosuppressants, a post-transplant medication that prevents his body from rejecting the organ. It’s a medication he’ll have to take for the rest of his life.
But in recent years, the pills have become scarce and expensive in Venezuela. Luis says on a daily basis he faces a terrifying feeling.
“It is so hard to get a kidney,” says Lusinchi in tears. “And to lose it because there’s not enough medicine, then it is not worth transplanting."
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Copyright © 2023 CGTN. 京ICP备16065310号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466