After transplantation error, ‘exchanged’ patient in hospital receives kidney in RN

The hospital is part of UFRN (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte) and is administered by EBSERH (Brazilian Hospital Services Company).

How the Transplant Line works

The waiting list for an organ is unique in the country and managed by the National Transplant System. It does not take into account just the order of arrival: the choice of a patient to receive a kidney, for example, is based on technical criteria of compatibility between the donor and the receiver and parameters such as urgency, gravity of the case and waiting time.

A patient’s calling occurs when a compatible kidney is captured with a donor. In this case, the list of potential receivers is evaluated, and the transplant center chooses the patient with the highest score to receive the organ.

Another criterion taken into account for a transplant is the proximity of the donor’s body patient. In this case, the distance and time the organ can be out of the body, in addition to transportation logistics, is evaluated to ensure the biggest chance of success of the procedure.

According to the ministry, Brazil has the largest public transplant system in the world, “reference in transparency, equity and safety, having performed more than 30 thousand procedures in 2024, a historical record”.