South Africa has witnessed an increase in the deaths of patients in urgent need of organ transplants due to the impact of COVID-19, according to the country’s Organ Donor Foundation.

“The number of transplants performed dramatically decreased, and as a result, many patients waiting for a transplant died,” the group said in an email statement to Anadolu Agency.

The foundation said that due to the high risk of COVID-19 infection, many live-related donations were paused, and there has been more than a 50% reduction of deceased donors since the COVID-19 outbreak.

The group said that during the peak of the pandemic, many patients suffering from the virus were admitted to intensive care units (ICUs), which made it difficult to make ICU beds available for organ transplantation or recovery after a transplant is done.

There was also limited access to hospitals, making it virtually impossible for medical professionals to refer potential donors and get consent from their next of kin.

The foundation said this was due to the restrictive nature of isolation and protective protocols that the COVID-19 pandemic placed on medical facilities.

Highest number of COVID cases in Africa

South Africa – a regional superpower – also has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 infections on the continent, with the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases at over 2.92 million, with nearly 89,500 reported fatalities.

The country, which is one of the global leaders in the field of organ transplantation, observed organ donor month this August with appeals for more people to register as donors to help save lives.

“Both live and deceased donor transplants have been severely affected, creating a compounded negative outcome for patients needing urgent transplants who will die if not immediately helped,” the foundation said.

South Africa has the best organ transplant units on the continent. Currently, there are approximately 5,000 South African adults and children awaiting a life-saving organ or cornea transplant.

But with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of transplants that could be performed will be fewer, with patients desperately waiting for lifesaving organ transplants waiting longer, and many are said to die in the interim.

In 2019, South Africa carried out 356 solid organ transplants, while in 2018, it did 391 transplants, according to the organ donor group.

South Africa has an average of 1.8 donors per million population, which equates to around 100 organ donors in the country per year.

The foundation says for a transplant to take place, a donor is needed with a matching blood type and meeting a range of criteria such as tissue typing and antibody cross-matching, which all has to match to a recipient.

​​​​​​​“This is a complex process and can often disqualify a potential donor if a matching recipient cannot be found. It is therefore – in light of the COVID-19 pandemic – critical that the pool of available donors is bigger to increase the chance for a suitable match,” the group said, appealing to more people to register as donors.

“More registered organ and tissue donors will help alleviate the unusual pressure being placed by COVID-19 on transplantation,” added the national non-profit group, which is working to address the critical shortage of organ and tissue donors in South Africa through awareness and education campaigns./aa