LAST AUG. 28, an organ retrieval team of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) was not allowed to board a Cebu Pacific flight from Legazpi to Manila because of the decision of the pilot, Capt. Reuven Perfecto A. Locson. The team (a nurse-transplant coordinator and two physicians) was bringing to Manila a pair of deceased donor kidneys it obtained from a referral at the Medical Mission Group Hospital in Sorsogon.

Despite the explanation it gave about a health department directive (signed by former Health Secretary Francisco Duque on Nov. 18, 2008) for all domestic commercial airlines to give priority to transplant teams transporting vital human organs (kidneys, liver, etc.), the team was refused carriage by the pilot.

The general manager of the Cebu Pacific Legazpi branch and the local security personnel at the airport had allowed them to board the airplane. The airport check-in personnel had even allotted a special seat at the rear end of the plane for them. However, the pilot was concerned about the ?smell of blood? coming from the retrieved kidneys, which could possibly be offensive to the other passengers.

The team tried in vain, to explain to the pilot that this could not be, but he stood pat on his decision without making an ocular inspection of the precious cargo. The kidneys were properly and carefully placed in preservative solution and packed in sterile ice and the canisters were inside a cooler. In this manner of packing, there was no way any odor of blood could be emitted. Kidneys are not toxic, illegal or contraband.

The NKTI?s retrieval/transplant team has previously flown Cebu Pacific with similar cases coming from Naga, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro. We have had problems before with the ground personnel but never with a pilot denying carriage of a donor kidney. In the end, the team was allowed passage after presenting the pertinent documents and adequate explanation amid appeals for medical humanitarian consideration.

Considering the emergency nature of the kidney transplant operations to be performed on two potential recipients of the kidneys at the NKTI in Quezon City, the team should have been allowed to hand carry the vital organs on the aircraft last Aug. 28. They had to take instead the 10-12 hours land trip. The 45-minute flight would have made a huge difference.

This incident has placed the viability of the deceased donor kidneys in jeopardy. One kidney was eventually transplanted to one patient with a very guarded outcome. The other kidney went to waste because it was no longer suitable for transplant to the other waiting recipient.

One deceased donor (from accident or trauma victims) can save and extend the lives of two or more patients with end-stage organ failure. All sectors of society need to be more sensitive to the efforts of the medical community in saving lives.

?REYNALDO J. LESACA JR., M.D., Transplant Psychiatrist
Head, Human Organ Preservation Effort (HOPE), NKTI