Success Stories

News & Success Stories

Details: Parent Category: ISN Information

Improving standards of care back home

After a successful ISN fellowship at the Mario Negri Institute in Italy, Igor Codreanu was appointed director of the National Transplant Agency in Moldova. He is a primary doctor in urology and kidney transplantation at the Center of Dialysis and Kidney Transplant, Republican Clinical Hospital in Moldova. Igor_Cordeanu_National_Transplant_Agency_Moldova “My activities with the European Council and the Sister Renal Center partnership were valuable in getting new legislation approved in 2008. The National Transplant Agency has now been set up and is one of the first of its kind in Moldova and former Soviet Union countries. It will establish a transplant system, ensuring easier access to patient transplantation services,“ he explains.

Igor’s story is one of many revealing how ISN Fellowships and Sister Renal Center collaborations are helping local kidney doctors and specialists improve standards back home.
“One of the aims of my fellowship was to develop a prevention program in my home country. We have now started this program and managed to screen some 2,000 people and give more dialysis treatments. We have also been involved in many World Kidney Day activities,“ he adds.

Saving lives by collaborating across borders

Thanks to the ISN Fellowship Program, Charlotte Osafo got a better understanding of medicine and general nephrology and acquired new knowledge and skills in peritoneal dialysis and kidney transplantation, which were not available in her home country.

“Through one of the meetings I attended as an ISN Fellow, I realized that if we did not start our own transplant program, sooner or later our dialysis program would not be able to cope with the increasing number of patients,“ she explains.

Charlotte_Osafo_screening_male_patient The SRC partnership between the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK made this possible. Surgeons, nephrologists and other supporting staff worked closely to bring transplantation to the institution in Ghana. Managing complex renal cases was made easier by sharing knowledge and helped save lives.

Now, the future looks bright. “We hope to achieve level A status soon and become one of the best renal centers in the sub-region so other people from developing countries can learn from us and we can offer post graduate training in nephrology and transplantation to West Africa and other developing regions,“ she adds.