FOLLOWING Panama’s first successful heart transplant last year there are three male patients on a waiting list say health authorities.

Alejandro Vernaza, director of the National Transplant Laboratory of the Social Security Fund, said that since 2015, potential recipients have been undergoing tests to determine their suitability for a transplant.

The aim of the tests is to avoid rejection Vernaza explained that when a heart becomes available, specialists have four and a half hours to determine which of the people on the list are most compatible.

After determining who is the most compatible patient, another test is performed on the recipient to avoid rejection. This last analysis is called cross­testing, he said.

T he first heart transplant in Panama was performed on March 11, 2016, on a 51­year­old woman. It was performed at Punta Pacífica Hospital by a team of doctors from that facility and Social Security.

The surgical team was composed of four surgeons, including Miguel Guerra and Manuel

Ochoa. The cardiologist in charge was Temístocles Diaz Three Panama patients await heart transplants

Guerra, the medical director of the Social Security Hospital Complex, said that carrying out a transplant is a demanding task. He said that the scale of these operations has necessitated a  public­private partnership in place to make them possible.