Costa Rica Opens
First Skin Bank
Costa Rica
opened the first
Central American
Skin Bank, an
initiative that
will benefit
children with
burns and severe
injuries. The
modern bank is
located in the
Hospital
Nacional de
Niños
(Children's
hospital) in San
José, where
experts save the
lives of about
30 infants every
year by using
dead people's
skin, the Bank's
coordinator
Patricia Venegas
said.
According to the
specialist,
children with
burns in half of
their body will
recover from
aggravated
injuries due to
the loss of
water, protein
and
electrolytes.
The skin comes
from the bodies
of those who
died violently
and have no
infectious
diseases such as
HIV, hepatitis,
neurodegenerative
or skin
problems.
At least 1.4
square meters of
skin will be
removed from the
back and sides
of the bodies,
never from the
face or chest,
explained
Venegas.
For this
procedure,
permission of
the victim's
relatives is
needed. So, an
information
campaign to
families has
begun in the
judicial morgue
of the country.
This facility,
the sixth of its
kind in Latin
America, is part
of the
initiative
"Consolidation
of Tissue Banks
in Latin America
and Tissue
Radium-sterilization",
funded by the
International
Atomic Energy
Agency.
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