Brazil Has World’s Largest Public Tranplant System

In the last two years, Brazil presented record growth in the number of organ transplants and has become the country with the largest number of this kind of procedure executed by public systems in the world.

Figures show that there was a 37% increase between 2002 and 2004, when Brazil reached the figure of 10,920 transplants. In 2002, a total of 7,981 procedures took place.


Between January and March this year, preliminary figures show that a total of 2,500 transplants took place throughout the country.


The kind of transplant that grew most was that of corneas, with an increase of 52.6% – from 3,496, in 2002, to 5,335, in 2004.


The number of donations also rose – from 1,183 in 2003 to 1,408 in 2004 – as did the total of procedures in practically all states.


Twenty-one states and the Federal District, where Brazilian capital Brasí­lia is located, currently have transplant centers. The units in the states of Acre, Rondônia and Tocantins, all in the north of the country, are currently in the phase of implementation.


The Ministry of Health relates this increase to greater public awareness and to the participation of the society in the donation and transplant process, and also mentions campaigns providing incentives to donations.


The public health network counts on 1,260 medical teams and 551 units registered for transplants. In 2004, approximately US$ 167.1 million were turned to organ and tissue transplants.


This value is 16.61% greater than the US$ 143.3 million invested in the previous year. Currently, a transplant costs, on average, US$ 14,600 to the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS).


Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil’s Pataxí³ Indians Take Over Land Being Used by Paper Firm

According to information from Cimi (Indianist Missionary Council), after repossessing the indigenous lands that ...

The List of the Undone in Lula’s Brazil

As a reader of O Estado de S. Paulo pointed out, during the thirteen ...

Foreigners Invest US$ 4.4 Billion in Brazilian Shopping Malls

Brazilian shopping malls are becoming more and more attractive to foreign investors. According to ...

Brazil’s Publishing Giant Abril Calls On US’s Accenture to Revamp Customer Service

Brazil’s Grupo Abril, the leading publishing group in Latin America, has selected Accenture to ...

Raça, a magazine for Brazilian blacks

In Race Matters the US Is Becoming More and More Like Brazil

As several historical studies have proven, descriptions of rape and the subsequent effects on ...

Brazilian community paper printed in the US East Coast

Brazil – Many Emigrants, Fewer Immigrants

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries an estimated 3.5 million people from ...

Brazil’s Yanomami Leader Gets Death Threats from Illegal Goldminers in the Amazon

Brazil’s Yanomami shaman and spokesperson Davi Kopenawa, who has led the struggle for the ...

Lula Talks About Cuts in Interest and Market Soars in Brazil

Latin American markets continued to power higher alongside modest strength from the U.S. A ...

U.S. Consumer Price Hike Depresses Brazil Market

Brazilian and Latin American equities gave back most of the gains earned yesterday. A ...

Intimacy Show-Off

Producer Patrícia Drummond explains the phenomenon: "What makes the biggest success on the Internet ...