Kidney transplant bid clears another hurdle
FAR North Queenslanders needing kidney transplants will be able to do so closer to home if a business case gets the green light.
Only one Queensland hospital transplants the organ — in Brisbane — but that could change.
On Friday the Townsville Hospital and Health Service (THHS) submitted a detailed business plan to the Department of Health.
THHS planning director Billy Bragg said once the Department of Health gives the green light to the business plan, he expects kidneys will be going into North Queensland patients within 18 months.
“Hopefully we’re looking at the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025,” Mr Bragg said.
“Of course it has to get approval and go through the budget cycle.”
The THHS will work with
DonateLife to receive kidneys from organ donors across Australia.
Right now the waitlist for a kidney can be anywhere from one to six years depending on your blood type and donation rates.
Eight years ago Wulguru woman Susie Anderson flew to Brisbane to receive her new kidney, spending three months in accommodation and taking 20 minute taxi rides to Princess Alexandra Hospital every morning.
She said the financial burden was large, but the stress of being separated from family was even larger.
“I had to go to Brisbane, which I wasn’t familiar with. I got on a plane for the first time in my life,” she said.
“But I recommend getting the transplant. It gave me such a boost of energy, it hits you all at once and I was out of the hospital bed that day … it beats going to hospital three times a week, getting huge needles put into your arm for three to five hours and being so tired.”
Mrs Anderson’s new kidney lasted five years before it failed – she used that time to travel and raised her children.
The mother-of-two inherited polycystic kidney disease from her mother, and knew by 21 her kidneys were failing.
“There is no cure,” she said. “I have one child who has polycystic kidney disease too... I really hope one day they create an artificial kidney.”